Frail Imagination
by HideousLaughter
Summary: Team 7's story retold beginning from the middle of the "Country of Waves" Arc with a focus on character developement and interaction with each other as well as with the other teams.
1. Chapter 1 Part 1

Chapter 1: The Bridge of Red Ice

Even half the way to Tazuna's home Sakura could still hear the characteristic sound of a kunai carving the wood at an even higher position than before as Sasuke and Naruto fought each other to the utmost in the forest. Kakashi carefully walked by her side, cautious not to put too much pressure on his leg.

"Uhm... Sensei?" Sakura asked in a sudden need to break the silence that was accompanying the two of them to the bridgebuilder's famliy.

Kakashi slowly turned his head in an almost bored manner as if he would not approve of her effort to start a conversation.

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Well... I wondered..." She looked to the ground as he faced her but quickly found the courage to look up to Kakashi's face again. "...I wondered if you could teach me some tricks while the boys are doing their training."

Sakura searched her Sensei's face for the smallest sign of approval but found nothing more than his usual unenthusiastic expression.

"I could see why you'd want that, Sakura." he replied after a few nearly unbearable seconds of silently glaring at each other.

"Really!?", she shouted out with excitement. "That... does mean you're doing it, right? Special training, I mean."

Kakashi turned around and started walking down the road again, while Sakura hurried to keep up with his pace.

"You have less techniques than Sasuke or even Naruto and neither an amazing amount of Chakra or physical prowess that would allow you to compensate for that. I don't want you to feel inferior just because you are less..." Kakashi slowed down his walking for just about a second as he searched for the right words."...less 'special' than the other two."

"...Right."

Sakura tried to hide the bitter look on her face by looking at her feet but also realised the truth in Kakashi's words. She suffered from her powerlessness ever since they fought Zabuza by the river and even before that; during Kakashi's bell test when she saw Sasuke dying right in front of her, unable to change the things that happened. Because she couldn't compete with the combat abilities of any of her teammates, Sakura concluded, she would always become a danger to missions in the future. And even worse: She would become a burden for Sasuke, something he would he have to get rid of, if he ever wanted to reach his goals.

"But today you showed them." said Kakashi with a little more warmth in his voice, what caused her to look up and stare at him for a few seconds until she realized that she wasn't moving and on top of that still waiting for a answer to her question.

He already seemed to anticipate her thoughts, as he slowly added: "When we're back at the house i'll show you a technique that should suit you very well. It only needs a very small amount of Chakra so I should be able to teach it to you even in my current state."

Although his words were neither especially friendly nor especially impolite Sakura felt that Kakashi meant every sentence. Words of a man that cared about her and her friends. A man that would help her to overcome her own weaknesses and become a good kunoichi.

XXXXX

At Tazuna's home Inari walked up to them as they approached. The bridgebuilder's grandson kept his serious face and frowned at them as if he were disgusted just by their looks.

"You were training, right?" The small boy asked them bluntly and without awaiting any replies he spat at them: "You should realise that it's hopeless. Neither of you has the strength to stand up against Gato and his men. You should just leave and let us be..."

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other in slight confusion. Inari had been rude and impolite ever since they first arrived in the Country of the Waves but never criticized them directly. Kakashi however didn't seem to bother much with the sudden change in Inari's behaviour, casually observing the child walking back at the front door with an angry stomping.

"My, my..." He sighed, as Inari disappeared in the small building.

As he didn't seem eager to add anything, Sakura turned her head in the direction of the ocean, speaking to herself even though Kakashi was right next to her.

"I wonder what made him this way. He seemed to be a much nicer boy on the pictures Tsunami had of him. Mostly he seems to have something against Naruto. Well... I can kind of understand why, but he probably hates him for other reasons than I do."

"We'll find out sooner or later. Let's find a place to talk, while I teach you how to use the technique I had in mind for you."

"Just talk? No seals? No Chakra-exercises or sparring?"

"Not yet. Well then..." Kakashi cleared his throat in a meaningful manner "As I said, it requires minimum chakra but good self-control and analysis of your opponent. We'll save the seals for later as I'll be asking you an important question first: What do you remember about Genjutsu?"

Leaning on his crook he steared towards the canopy in front of the bridgebuilder's home.

Again trying to keep up with her Sensei, Sakura quickly came up with the answer she learned by hard for her graduation from the Ninja-academy.

"Genjutsu are aimed at confusing the opponent's mind with illusions. They alter the Chakra-current in one's brain to create false imagery and deceptive sensory input. You can break a Genjutsu by intercepting your own Chakra-current or knocking out the Genjutsu's creator."

Kakashi gave her a slightly amused look during her lecture which he was sure was copied exactly from the Ninja-academy's manual.

_Nothing less to be expected from the most studious graduate this year._

"Well then..." He sat down on the wooden planks of the veranda and crossed his legs. „Are you able to use any? Genjutsu, that is."

"N-no, not really", Sakura admitted to him. „I have only learned how to identify and dispel them but not how to use them myself."

"That's fine. The technique I had in mind isn't exactly hard to learn as it pretty much lets your opponent do the work for you. It awakens one's inner fear by using the illusion of someone who is close to them as a trigger. Therefore the opponent's own mind turns against them and controls a vision of fear to shock them. Easy, isn't it?"

"Was that the one you used on me, when you told us to get those bells from you?"

"Yes, it's called the hell-viewing technique. To use it, it's important to know how your opponent thinks. It is also helpful if you have a weakness in mind that you could exploit, as it allows you to adapt the triggering illusion and make it more convincing. Ideally you should also make eye-contact with your target."

Kakashi threw back his head and took a deep breath.

"You're going to learn this by trying to trap me with that technique. As you know next to nothing about me, it'll be a good challenge for you."

"But...", Sakura objected. "I don't even know how to do this."

"I already taught you the basic concept. You should be able to figure out by yourself how to manipulate your Chakra so that it will disturb the enemy's senses. As a tip to you: Try to focus your Chakra in your eyes, then making eye-contact with me to apply the illusion by altering my Chakra with your own. The seals are the snake and the rat." In an attempt to provider her with some confidence he nodded at her and added: "Dont expect this to work at the first time. Is everything clear?"

"Yeah, I think so...", Sakura mumbled half-heartedly.

"Well then: start!" Kakashi looked up to her as she was now standing in front of her, staring directly into his eyes. Sakura closed her eyes, focussing on her knowledge of Kakashi. What could he possibly feel regret for? What could torture him internally? What would scare a person like him? As she went back in time in her mind, she stumbled upon a clue. Thoroughly she weaved the seals, as she created a fake image of herself being slaughtered by Zabuza's blade in front of Kakashi. She then stared into his eyes, projecting forth the impression of her own death towards her Sensei.

"Genjutsu: Hell-viewing technique!"

XXXXX

Naruto gasped for air. A few metres away from him Sasuke hit the ground after beating his previous marking by about twelve centimetres and was now leading by five centimetres. Drenched with sweat and their faces covered in dirt, they stared at each other in competition, not willing to give up until they finally reached the treetop.

"Hah, nice try! But I'll be at the top in no time!" Naruto snorted and spat on the ground. "Deal with it, Sasuke: This time you aint gonna beat me!" With a big grin in his face and pointing towards his chest Naruto turned around only to face a cold look of determination.

"Dream on, kid.", Sasuke replied harshly, readying himself for another attempt to run up the tree trunk, while Naruto just quickly nodded without losing his grin and did the same.

"Here I go!", they yelled simultaneously.

XXXXX

"Hey, you two really took your time with the training. Dinner is already prepared and you should hurry to come inside... After you got a bath, that is." Sakura greeted the two of them in a sursprisingly friendly manner, even though her face was chalk-white and she looked thoroughly shaken. Sasuke followed her instructions right away, ignoring her presence and heading straight for the front door of the wooden house that was partially built on stakes. Naruto however stayed for a second and looked at her with an exhausted but happy grin.

"You know, Sakura-chan? I wanted to thank you for giving me advice and..."

"Just hurry up and get inside already! You smell!", she interrupted his clumsy attempt at making conversation and sighed internally.

_He is really getting obnoxious from time to time._

Naruto lowered his head and nodded, now seemingly weary and beaten. Sakura followed him with an adequate distance trying to focus on the meal that was awaiting them.

XXXXX

Over Tazuna's excited shouting during the meal, that Tsunami had prepared for them, Kakashi observed the three of them sitting at the table. After the fifth bowl, Sasuke and Naruto still demanded more, earning surprise from Tazuna and Tsunami and digust from Inari and Sakura.

Latter looked at her bowl in dismissal, forcing herself to have one tiny bit of rice after another. Her complexion was still dunn with a greyish tone and a slight shivering when she used her chopstick, caused the rice she prepared for herself instead of the soup, to spread over table in front of her. She finally put them away and reached for the water as her stomach cramped and she spew out her meal. Suddenly everyone in the small room was staring at her, again with mixed reactions.

"Is something wrong, Sakura?", Naruto tried to sound friendly. "What is it?"

Kakashi waited for an answer, but the embarassed look on the girls face and the clenched fists on her lap were enough for him to tell that she would not explain the situation.

"We did some training and I used a Genjutsu on her several times. I countered her illusions to give her the impression of a real battle but I guess I overdid it with the last one.", he answered Naruto, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well, it can't be helped at the moment."

Tears ran down Sakura's face, but then she jumped up and ran towards the exit, leaving the others behind and slamming the house's front door shut as she left to get some air.

She took a deep breath of the salty and somewhat refreshing breze that comforted her nose and helped her forget the embarassement and pain of this day, on the outside. Quickly glancing at her hand, she heard a rattling behind her as someone pushed aside the door and set foot on the planks outside.

Sakura turned around, expecting the calm and yet frigid face of Sasuke but was bitterly disappointed with a worried-looking Naruto.

"Leave me alone already... please." She channeled her disappointment into these words, keeping this nuisance at bay with her outstretched arm.

"Sakura..."

"Shut it, please! I can't stand your talk right now, got it?" She sighed deeply and then continued shouting at Naruto: "Don't come here, acting all friendly, pandering me just for your buddy-complex. Go inside and eat up but don't bother me with your useless advice, ok?"

As Naruto's worried expression turned into frustration, Sakura could feel herself becoming more lightly, relieving herself from the pressure she built up. Even though she yelled on for about a minute, Naruto didn't move at all and just soaked up all her anger and resesntment. Ffter she was finished, she simply turned away from him, inhaling the fresh air from the sea trying her hardest to overlook him. It wasn't for long that she heard the sound of his footsteps again, this time closing the door behind him.

As she watched the waves from her outlook, Kakashi asked Tazuna about the torn-out part of the family picture in the living room. She could hear them talking for a while but then entered the building again and headed straight for her futon.

_At least I can get some sleep_

XXXXX

"Good morning..." Still drowsy from a night filled with turning around and hiding her face in the pillow Sakura stumbled into the living room, quickly glancing around and then sitting down by the table. Inari, the black-haired boy was left to her, just finishing his breakfast whereas Sasuke was sitting on the other side of the table, his elbows resting on the tabletop, while he observed the room with a look over his intertwined hands. Kakashi was leaning in the backside of the room, flipping through the pages of an issue of Flirting Paradise he already finished when they reached the Country of Waves.

"Morning, Sakura." He looked up from his book, analyzing her body posture as well as her facial expression and then going back to his reading.

"Morning." Sasuke repeated after his Sensei and then shoved aside his plate. "I'll be going for a walk..."

"Are you going to look for Naruto?", Kakashi asked without looking up from his book. "He didn't return for breakfast, so maybe he got into trouble."

"Would be just like him, but yeah, I'll probably have a look around the forest." Sasuke tried to leave through the front door as Sakura quickly swallowed the Dorome, emptied her cup of tea and got up as well.

"I think it's my fault he hasn't returned yet. So I'll be accompanying you.", she claimed with an expression that would tolerate no objections.

Sasuke quickly glanced at her, but then turned around, shrugged and took his leave.

"Whatever."

They stepped outside the house and started walking down the road that led to the forest. Sasuke, maintaining a constant impression of his own superiority, treaded in front of Sakura. Both his cold attitude and the coastal breeze made Sakura shiver, but she kept a small distance between them trying not to get in Sasuke's way.

Eventually he made a short stop to look up to the sky. There the predominant light blue faded into a greyish tone and several clouds were beginning to darken the limp image of the sun.

"Why am I even doing this?", Sasuke mumbled in complete disregard of the fact that Sakura was still just about a metre behind him.

"He's our teammate even though he's an idiot.", she declared in a carefree manner. "We have to look after him."

"Yeah right." Sasuke shook his head. "As if I were the one who yelled at him, because I couldn't complete Kakashi's training."

"That's not... I mean, I didn't..."

"You'll just make a fool out of yourself, if you continue this. To be completely honest, you might as well go home." He went on, burying his hands in his pockets, forcing Sakura to accelerate her steps to close the distance between them.

"I was not upset, because I failed the training or something. In fact, I did pretty well... It just demanded a lot from me. That was all" She stepped in front of Sasuke, staring directly into his eyes as if she tried to melt his mask-like face with her words. "I'm giving my best not to disappoint any of you and become definitely better!"

"Tze..." Sasuke turned his head away from her. "Now you're sounding like that dreamer. Becoming stronger... I don't get it." He stared at her for a while after he said that, until he finally added: "Come on! I want to know what this blockhead's up to."

As he made his way around Sakura the clouds finally reached the coast and as soon as she decided to go on as well, the first raindrops started to fall, quickly adding up to a downpour.

Now in a hurry to not get soaked, both of them ran down the main road in silence, most of the time not even looking at each other. But when the forest finally came into view they where already thoroughly wet.

XXXXX

"Hey you idiot, wake up!" A kick, that could hardly be described as soft, took Naruto's breath.

"What is it? I was sleeping so well..." He blinked and rubbed his eyes. As he looked up, he could identify an angry Sakura right in front of him.

"Sensei Kakashi was worried sick about you, because you never showed up for breakfast. That's why he sent us to look for you", she snarled and gave him another kick to the chest.

_Sure doesn't sound like Kakashi, if you ask me..._

But instead he replied: "I was just doing some training last night and fell asleep at about sunrise. By the way, have you seen a cute girl with black her in a pink Yukata? I remember talking to her just before I came here to rest."

Straightening his back, he sat upright pushed against the tree and got himself an overview over the situation. Sakura stood over him still with her angered expression, whereas Sasuke was sitting on the grass with his legs crossed and head resting on his left palm. Around them there was the constant noise of raindrops colliding with the leafs of the trees around them. The air was filled with the smell of the freshly watered ground and on the verge of the sky the sun was already breaking through the clouds. It was going to become a warm, but misty day as the rain started evaporating in the warm radiance, creating an almost solid curtain of fog.

"She said, I would become a great ninja, but that I should probably run for now, I think... It's a bit unclear."

"You probably dreamt it. I don't think that some random cute girl would identify you as a ninja and on top of that predict that you'd become a great one.", Sakura said, throwing back her long, pink hair back as if she had to demonstrate her own cuteness.

"Sounds rather unlikely, yeah." Sasuke nodded.

"Geez, why are in such bad mood?" Crossing his arms behind his head, Naruto looked up to the sky. "Uhm, by the way...?"

"What is it?" Sakura asked impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground.

"Did you bring any food, by chance? Im staaarving!"

Sakura got set for another kick. "Are you honestly telling me, you're oversleeping breakfast and when we come to look for you you're asking for food...!?"

"Ah, no, no! Of course not!" Naruto was hastily bowing down for an excuse. "I'd never do something like that, Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke gave him an icy look. "We should hurry to get back to Kakashi." He gave off his usual composed and perfectly controlled imagery of a serious ninja.

"But... weren't you the one who wanted to go in the first place?", Sakura foolishly interposed, causing Sasuke to give her an even more intimidating look.

"Yeah, well I don't mind going back at all.", Naruto declared with a big grin which earned him threatening glares from both Sakura and Sasuke.

"Shut up!", they hissed at him in consonance.

With a deep sigh Naruto stood up and made a few steps into the direction in which he remembered to be the edge of the woods.

"Fine, I'm going anyways. You see... Wait!"

A sudden cracking from wood being cut aside with a sharp blade came into his ears and he listened carefully. After some time he could identify the voices of two men heading in their general direction.

"Are you sure they went this way? The old man could have lied to us."

"With his daughter's life on the line? I don't think so. Come on! They've got to be somewhere around here!"

"What should we do!?", Sakura panicked only to get cut off by Sasuke.

"Be quiet! We have the advantage right now, so don't give us away by screaming like a child."

He was at her side in a flash, gagging her with his left hand, while he fetched a shuriken from the pocket on his right side.

Naruto squeezed himself against a tree, monitoring the mist.

"I can't see them yet... Man, why do I have to do this before I had breakfast?", he moaned as he followed Sasuke's action and drew forth a kunai on his own.

"What do you suggest Sasuke?", Sakura asked, as she freed herself from the hand that was keeping her mouth shut. "Ambush and capture them? They seem to be searching for us." She kept her voice to a mere whisper, carefully taking shelter behind a near tree.

Sasuke nodded. "If we can capture them, they might provide us some answers. In any way it's better than letting them pass by. Two shouldn't be that big of a threat to us."

"I can see them! Look!"

Two middle-aged men wearing katanas on their sides stepped out of the mist. The one in the front seemed to be the younger one, having grey hair, a juvenile face with tattooes around his eyes, wearing a grey jacket and a black headband. The man walking in his footsteps was taller and wore no top. Instead his upper body was covered in scars and tattooes that reached from his shoulder to his chest and were depicting a wave in motion. In addition to his spiky hair, he wore an eyepatch and a cruel smile.

The two of them were more or less hacking and slashing their way through the forest in not very elegant way, leaving cut branches and leaves on the ground.

"Are you ready? I take the one with the jacket.", Naruto hissed at them. "On my mark..."

Sasuke's look turned bitter as Naruto gave him instructions, but he readied himself and nodded. Sakura was instead watching Naruto and Sasuke taking preparations, having trouble to keep herself calm.

_Come on! You've got to fight them!_

She fumbled around in her pocket until she got hold of a kunai and two shuriken, while she took a deep breath...

"Go!"

Naruto's cry let her snap out of her state of inaction.

She jumped out of her hiding-place alongside Sasuke and Naruto, who were already charging at the two samurai, as she was still getting ready to throw her weapons at them. Just before he reached his target, multiple shadow clones appeared at Naruto's side, surrounding the grey-haired swordsman.

Sasuke used the trees to propel himself through the air, hurling his shuriken as he passed the head of his opponent, aiming for his unprotected neck.

Surprised by the ambush and Sasuke's sheer speed, the man in the back was only in the position to deflect the shuriken with the hilt of his katana, before they reached his face, but was instantly knocked to the ground by Sasuke's kick that followed his ranged attack and was aimed at the man's chest.

Naruto's foe didn't seem to be troubled by the shadow clones around and calmly started slashing through them with an elegant, swift strike to his right and then using the breach in Naruto's ring of clones to make his escape. Just as he took a few steps towards the undergrowth, Sakura hurled her kunai and her shuriken simultaneously, starting to form the seals for her Genjutsu to keep the man from escaping.

Trying to anticipate and dodge her next attack the samurai tumbled to the side, using a nearby brush as cover. In the splitsecond they maintained their eyecontact, he fell into her illusion.

Suddenly the man started to tremble; Naruto, who was making steps towards him, slowly backed off, fixating Sakura with a surprised look. She simply nodded at him, now approaching the weeping and crying man by herself. As soon as she reached him, his face turned into a mask of horror and disgust and he raised his arms in a frantic attempt to defend himself from her, falling on his back.

"S-stay away from me!", he shrieked, crawling backwards, until Sasuke, who had overwhelmed the shirtless guy and tied him to a nearby log, stopped him. Sasuke knocked him out with a simple strike to his forehead and shook his head, as the man's pupils rolled backwards and he sunk into a state of dreamless darkness.

"Phew, that was horrifying!", Naruto commented, pointing towards the unconscious swordman. "I knew you could be fearsome, but that was a bit too much. What exactly did you make him see?"

"I don't know..." Sakura shook her head. If anything she could feel pity for that man.

"Well whatever it was, he's better of this way.", Sasuke meant. "We still have one for questioning, even if he looks like a moron to me."

He made some steps towards the fighter, that was still tied up, and gave them angry glares as he regained his bearing.

"Set me free and I'll tell you, what you want, ok? I've got better things to do than to waste my time with you."

The man with the eyepatch spat on the ground.

"Is that so?" An intimidatingly cruel smile played around Sasuke's lips. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we? For the start you could start answering our questions. Else we'd seriously have to consider whether we should let you two live."

"Come on, don't give me that crap... You kids don't have what it takes to kill someone."

"We are Shinobi. That's the definition of our job – killing. If you think I'd hesitate to slit either of your throats, you are even more stupid than you look." Sasuke nodded at Naruto, who picked up a kunai and knelt down besides their hostage. Carefully and slowly he cut the skin at the man's neck only enough to release a small drop of blood.

"I'd do what he says, we don't want to waste our time as well. So if you stay closed up like this, we'd have to dispose of you. Understood?" he added to conclude his demonstration.

After his eyes darted around between the three of them, the thug reluctantly shrugged and sighed:

"What do you wanna know?"

"At first: Who are you and who hired you?" Sakura stepped up to him, staring into his eyes with the coldest expression she could possibly produce. Sasuke certainly was the best of them concerning interrogation skills. He was neither as dramatic as Naruto who tended to lose his cool rather quickly nor as hesitant as Sakura. Sasuke quickly gazed towards the latter, sending her a nod of confirmation.

"I'm Waraji and my partner's name is Zori." the man replied in annoyance. "We are mercenaries hired by the Gato Company."

"Go on, or this'll be over much faster than you'd like. Why the fuck are you here? What do you want from us?" Naruto didn't even bother to contain himself and gave Waraji a hit to the face that mad him lose his balance and fall down. He grunted, turned his head and spat at Naruto in return.

"You brat! Piss off!"

Naruto raised his fist again, but was held back by Sasuke who pushed himself into the front, whispering something into Naruto's ear after which he – not without shaking his fist at the tied-up Waraji – backed off and left the field to Sasuke.

"What he meant to ask was: What are your orders right now? You can answer that, can't you, Waraji?" His voice was the exact opposite of merciful or friendly and it was the mere threat in his cold tone that was forcing Waraji to answer him.

"They sent us to capture some children that were accompanying the ninja called Kakashi Hatake, who was hired by Tazuna the bridgebuilder as well as his family. The people around his house told us that you were heading for the woods. That's all."

"You wanted to get us three all by yourself before returning to Tazuna's house to abduct his family" Sasuke raised a brow. "Doesn't seem like a sound plan to me..."

"No, we had a third guy, whom we told to deal with the child and his mother... Geta was his name."

Naruto suddenly jumped up again.

"You fucking..."

"Naruto!" he was scolded by Sasuke. "That's all we need to know. We should hurry – maybe we can protect the boy and his mother. And if not, I suspect at least Sensei Kakashi to be in grave danger."

"If Gato decided to strike, everyone is!" Naruto pointed almost accusingly towards him.

"Let's go! We can take care of these two later."

"No." Sasuke replied calmly. "We strip them of their weapons and tie them up here, so they won't cause harm to anyone."

"That's right." Sakura agreed and started pulling out a rope out of her pocket, using it to bind the two samurai together to a nearby log after she took their swords and two small dagger in the case of Zori. Waraji just shook his head and didn't even resist the shackles. As they left, he raised his gaze towards them. When Naruto looked back for a second he spotted a mad spark in the eyes of the swordsman.

_He definitely won't forget this._

XXXXX

When the house came into sight, Naruto already knew that something had gone wrong: No one appeared to be present, when they arrived, even though Tsunami was usually doing the laundry or cleaning the house at that time.

They entered the small path that led to the front door and spotted that it had been bashed in by force. The frame showed signs of a sharp blade and the door itself lied on the ground marked by even more strikes of what appeared to be a katana as Sakura concluded, when they searched the scenery for clues.

"Wow, this guy must be pretty strong if he just easily kicked this door in..." Naruto peered into the inside of the small house. The main corridor's walls were marked by even more cuts and slashes, shards of broken pottery scattered on the floor.

"Damn it," Sakura added. "there are no footprints. We have no idea where he went with the boy and his mother. Should we search for more clues or directly go to the bridge? Afterall Sasuke already suspected that Gato decided to strike."

"I think I heard something in the kitchen... Wait a second." Naruto wandered down the destroyed hallway, leaving Sakura and Sasuke, who was leaning in the shattered doorframe, obversing his surroundings, alone.

After a short while, it seemed as if he finally could degrade himself to answer her question.

"We should go together. Even if we have to wait for Naruto. It's still possible we just run into a trap, when we rush to the bridge headlessly." With those words he turned his back and went into the house himself. Sakura sighed and followed him.

_Why do I always have to be the one, who's dragged around?_

Naruto pushed the door to the kitchen open, from where he thought to hear a strange rattling. At first glance, the whole room was relatively untouched: The emptied plates from breakfast were still on the table and everything looked intact. Just when he was about to turn around and leave, something charged at him from under the table. Quickly Naruto raised his arms and dodged the attack easily by rolling forwards underneath the small boy whom he identified as Inari wielding a simple knife. When he jumped up and turned around, Inari was already charging at him a second time.

"Stop!" Naruto yelled. "What the heck are you doing!? I'm on your side!"

Inari's eyes widened, when he recognized the blonde ninja and he sunk to his knees.

"You... You fucking idiots!" the boy screamed out, tears filling his dark eyes. "He took mum with him because you weren't here!" He dropped the blunt knife and instead used his fists to punish Naruto, who was barely guarding the puny blows from the boy's fists.

"Hey…Listen! You have to tell us where he took her, or else we can't do anything."

"It's no use! She's already dead by now... and You... I... I couldn't protect her!" The trembling in his voice grew stronger and he suddenly bursted into tears.

"Nobody blames you for that. But you've got to tell us, ok?" Naruto tried to sound friendly and comforting as he endured Inari's gradually weakening hits.

"And what are you gonna do? It's not as if you could bring her back."

"If he took her hostage he probably won't kill her. So if he mentioned something, maybe it could help us."

Inari slowly started to calm down and swallowed his tears. His reddened eyes stared angrily at Naruto and he hesitated in his answer.

"He said... he'd work for Gato and that he'd... need a hostage to force Tazuna into giving up the bridge."

"Anything else?"

The boy reluctantly shook his head.

"Well then... I'm going to rescue your mom and stop this Gato guy! It's a promise!"

Naruto grinned at Inari. "You know... If I'm going to become Hokage, I can't allow people like Gato to just do what they want, right?"

He petted Inari on the head maintaining his big smile. "You should go to the village and stay there for a bit, while we take care of those guys."

With that, he turned around and left the boy alone. Inari was clenching his fists as Naruto stepped outside the kitchen, his whole body was still shaking but he found confidence in those words.

Outside the house he met up with Sasuke and Sakura who searched the other rooms but didn't find anything.

As he repeated what Inari said him, Sakura nodded eagerly.

"We have to get to the bridge. Gato and his men have probably already showed up there and Kakashi's there alone. If we hurry, we'll be there in about thirty minutes."

Nobody seemed to have something to object, in fact Naruto was obviously itching to get there. He looked at them with an unsettling look in his eyes.

"Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

After twenty minutes a mist came crawling from the coast and engulfed the small group as they made their way to the bridge. The closer they were getting to the construction site, the more intense the thick grey fog became. From the edge of the village they could identify the silhouettes of what appeared to be the material lying on the bridge. More and more details came into sight: the schemen of a crane, stacks of steel, joists and railing. Not a single person was nearby.

From the moment Naruto set his foot on the bridge, the veil around the construction site revealed the hectic battle between three ninja. The mist lifted just enough to show a spinning and jumping Kakashi, hastily evading the attacks from Zabuza, who was swinging his giant sword, the Kubikiribocho at him. At Zabuza's side stood the masked Haku, irregularly hurling senbon at Kakashi in order to distract him. The fight was more a game of exhaustion since neither of the opponents wanted to spare too much of his chakra in an all-out front attack.

The repeated sound of deflected needles and Kakashi's tabi gliding over the somewhat slippery surface of the bridge came to an end, when the three stepped into the backs of Haku and Zabuza. Kakashi got on his knees to catch his breath, removing a senbon that had impaled the less protected part of his thigh and was causing blood to flow down the leg that Kakashi had just been able to fully use the is morning. He threw back a glance at Tazuna, who was standing at the very edge of the bridge, as far away from the two Kirigakure-ninja as possible.

The tension, that had been building up, since each of the opponents noticed the presence of the three rookies, exploded in a violent clash. Zabuza snarled, lifted the massive sword above his head and then, after spinning around in a full circle, he hurled the blade at Kakashi. Haku turned around instantly, his left hand throwing a hail of senbon and his right hand forming seals faster than either Sakura or Sasuke could identify them.

Icy needles raised from the puddles of water on the ground; their points sparkling in the remnants of the dull sunlight.

Kakashi, who was barely dodging the thrown heavy Kubikiribocho, realized in the very second he rolled to the side und threw a single shuriken at the now defenseless Zabuza, that he made a terrible mistake: When his shuriken hit it's target, it became liquid until the image of Zabuza dissolved into water, that splashed onto the ground.

_How did he...? Right, the Hiding in Mist technique, his specialty._

"Gotcha, you rat!" Zabuza sent his blade downward in a heavy blow, loaded with enough strength to crush the very stone, where Kakashi stood a splitsecond ago.

"Damn it..." he grunted, freeing his great sword with a single effort from his left arm. "Stop running already and fight!"

In a flash he accumulated his chakra and started the complicated sequence of eighteen seals. Kakashi, who was still trying to get away from him, wasn't even able to get on his feet, before the technique was finished.

"Water release: Great waterfall technique!"

Suddenly from both sides of the bridge giant amounts of water emerged as if they were pulled up by an incredible force. Those two columns met above Kakashi's head and clashed down on him with the violent power of a waterfall.

The whole bridge trembled for a short moment, protesting against the sheer amount of chakra that Zabuza used to pin Kakashi down.

While Sakura and Naruto were watching in awe how the gigantic cascade tore away parts of the railing and even took joists of steel with it.

"Is he...? No, not Sensei Kakashi!"

Untouched from the magnificent destruction caused by the water, Sasuke drew air into his lungs and spew a fireball of considerable size at Haku in an attempt to melt his ice needles as well as burning him to ashes with his attack.

When the wave of hot air that was accompanying his fireball dissolved, he already knew that his attack didn't have the inteded effect. Although Haku's spikes of ice appeared to be molten their creator was nowhere to be seen.

_Is he hiding in the mist?_

Sasuke's eyes were darting around, scanning his sorroundings for possbile hiding places.

"Hey you two! Snap out of it already and help Kakashi!" he ordered the two that were still staring at the aftermath of Zabuza's Jutsu.

"No!" Kakashi emerged from the ground at Sasuke's side. "He'll kill you in a flash if you three go up against him." He turned at Naruto who was openly showing his relief that Kakashi survived the technique openly.

"Naruto!"

"Yes, Sensei?"

"Use your shadow clones to protect Tazuna and help Sakura and Sasuke bring down this fake hunter-nin! I'll take on Zabuza. The boy can form seals with only one hand, so be careful."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Sasuke nodded. "First time I hear of something like that."

"Just don't let him surprise you with it. I think you can easily match his speed and in terms of prowess it should be possible for the three of you, to overwhelm him."

"Hey, are you done talking?" Zabuza swung his blade around, mocking them by casually waving his sword at them until he pointed it at Kakashi. "Or do I have to come and get you?"

"You should not underestimate him..." Haku appeared from a stack of barrels that had been pushed aside as a result of Zabuza's waterfall. The boy took off the Kirigakure-mask and looked at Kakashi's team as he spoke. "Afterall, he managed to damage you pretty badly, last time. I think..."

Zabuza gave him an icy look. "I know." he interrupted Haku. "Now get going and bring me the heads of his little underlings, if you want to be useful."

Both Zabuza and Haku knew that it wasn't a question of 'wanting to be useful'. If Haku didn't obey his orders he'd lose the single person in the whole wold, that relied on him. The one person that didn't hate him. If he'd lose that person, he would become even less then a human: A mere beast.

No! It was of greatest importance for him to be needed, to have someone, who would rely on him and value his existence, even if he were to become nothing but a tool. He'd spill blood for him, murder for him and even lose his humanity for that person.

This was the unspoken contract that bound him to Zabuza and the motivation that kept him going.

"Fine, I'll do it."

With burning determination Haku turned at Naruto, who was building up a human wall around Tazuna using his shadow clones. Eight of them took position to form a slightly curved line of defense intended to cover the largest possible area. In the meantime, Sasuke readied another fireball and Sakura produced shuriken from her pockets in order at least not be defenseless against a foe like this seemingly superior ninja that managed to stop Zabuza's heartbeat with only two senbon.

Yet neither Naruto nor Sasuke seemed to be the least bit intimidated by Haku. He was still wearing the mask that was conceiling his slightly surprised expression in spite of the confidence the two boys displayed. He knew that underestimating them would be fatal, but he could not let Zabuza down. He had just recovered and it was uncertain if he would be able to kill Kakashi in a straight fight after the latter so easily avoided his probably most deadly technique.

Not wanting to reveal too much of his power, Haku started off by throwing several precisely aimed senbon in qick succession at Tazuna, followed by splashes of water that turned into small icicles in mid air, at Sakura, which he deemed to be the easiest target.

Just as he finished his ice-spears, Haku noticed Sasuke, who was spitting a fireball and then directly following in it's wake, using the burning missile both as protection and diversion.

Seeing right through his attack, Haku simply tumbled to the left and directly created a barrier of ice that stood about two meters in height and leght on his right side in order to prevent Sasuke from charging on.

Naruto's shadow clones easily deflected the needles that were thrown at Tazuna, while the real one looked for an opportunity to strike. They just had to delay this until Kakashi eventually overwhelmed Zabuza and could help them. And with three people against him, their enemy would eventually would run out of chakra and have to give up. On his left, a clone left his position on it's own accord, throwing himself infront of Sakura, who was staying there motionles, simply glaring at the icicles in utter despair.

"Hey, snap out of it, already, Sakura!" Naruto yelled, while his clone fell to the ground with his back pierced by the sharp tips of the icy projectiles. With a 'poof!' his alter ego disappeared for good and Sakura, who had been standing there as if she had been petrified simply by looking at Haku snapped out of her current state and started yelling back at him:

"What do you think are you doing!? I could have easily dodged that!"

"Of course... Next time just thank the person who tries to save your life!" Naruto shouted angrily.

_Geez, if she just weren't so vicious from time to time._

He looked back at Haku, whom he recognized somehow and it was not just from the first time, they fought Zabuza.

_This hairstyle... and if you'd imagine a pink yukata... That's him! But why was he in my dream? And why was he dressed like a girl?_

Just as those thought's crossed Naruto's mind there was a crack on the backside of the bridge. Kakashi, who had reavealed his sharingan charged at Zabuza and was tearing the parts of the stone away as he ran towards his target, his hands blazing with electric energy. Beneath Zabuza's hip Kakashi's summoned ninken sank their teeth in his legs, rooting him in place.

There was a sound of impact and lightning flooded over the bridge as the Chidori hit Zabuza's chest. The swordsman sank to his knees with a hole, where his heart should have been.

"Wow, Sensei Kakashi is simply incredible! He defeated the demon of the hidden mist this quickly!" Sakura screamed with glee in complete disregard of the the still living Haku, who was presently engaged in a hand-to-hand combat with Sasuke.

When his master dropped down in his back, he slowly turned his head, ignoring his opponent for a second.

Taking his chance, Sasuke tried to execute a swift and deadly strike towards his enemy's throat. Haku, shocked by what happened around him, ducked to dodge in the last possible second.

The tip of the kunai glided over his mask, as Sasuke pressed onwards, tearing the coloured wood to splinters, where he hit it.

With an angry howl, Haku tumbled backwards, threw away his mask and covered his eye, where a splinter had hit him. With his vision blurred by the pain and the fear of what could have happened to Zabuza, he ran, slightly stumbling in his haste, away from Sasuke.

He had to get to Zabuza and protect him! But when his damaged eyes finally got sight of the man he had been fighting for, Haku knew that it was already too late. Kakashi was crouching over the corps and currently removing the forehead protector with the crossed out Kirigakure-symbol.

Zabuza was dead. Haku's dream, his future and his identity all lied there in a puddle of water, uttering their last breaths. This couldn't be right – it had to be a trick! No, the tapping of several feet that was coming towards the bridge had to be Zabuza leading Gato's men. This thing on the ground surely was a decoy, created to fool the white-haired ninja.

Shades of people emerged from the thick mist. Dozens of people, wielding swords or clubs. Between them, Gato marched, a hideous little man with a black suit and sunglasses. A gnome of a criminal, but dangerous nontheless.

Directly by his side, the gagged and tied up Tsunami was pushed forwards by an middle-aged man in a grey kimono. His stubbled chin and the worn-out gaze matched with the rugged appearance of a freelancer mercenary, someone who abducted children and women for those with money.

Gato banged his walking stick on the bridge and his subordinates simultaneously came to an halt, with the drilled precision, great amounts of money could create in even the most undisciplined bunch of gangsters.

"Well, well," Gato chuckled. A chuckling as poisonous as the small man himself. "Now, i don't even have to take care of this guy. Good news, although I'd expect someone of his reputation to at least kill one or two of these kids. Ah... I guess it can't be helped." He grinned. "Slaughter them!"

When Gato finished his monologue, Haku was already fully ablaze. Zabuza's death had pushed the boy's mind past any reasoning and his hands were cramped in anger, as he yelled out without adressing anyone specifically:

„You killed him! I'll never forgive you!"

Before anyone could react, Haku threw out his arms and simultaneously created seals with both hands. On his right side, water appeared in the air and quickly crystallized. On his left side there was an extreme chill that seemed to kreep on the ground towards Gato's men, while the ice-spears on the right slowly took form.

"I'll kill you all!"

Trembling with hatred, Haku uttered a primal scream and released his missilies at the mercenaries; at the same time, more spears of ice emerged from the frozen bridge at their feet. The air itself was stripped of it's humidity and the water created sharp, icy stalagmites.

The people around Gato were panicking. Their front line was impaled by the thrown spears in the very first seconds. They could neither run, nor do anything to stop the jutsu from killing them one by one, as most of the thugs couldn't feel their feet anymore. Even those, who were near enough to the edge of the bridge to try getting off of it, got their way blocked off by three bigger pillars of ice. When they turned around, giving up their futile attempt of flight, their heads were immediately cut off by razor-sharp icicles.

Gato, who was standing in the middle of the masscre, seemed to be unscathed and curiosly uninterested. The small man remained calm, while his companions were either pierced to death or beheaded and the huge amounts of ice slowly turned completely red.

The rugged man at his side, whom the crimelord remebered to bear the name Geta, did the same: his grey, unchangingly distant eyes observed his surroundings absolutely unmoved, firmly keeping his hostage at his side. If they were lucky, maybe they could exchange her for their lives... No. Gato didn't know why this boy was so angry, but it probably wasn't because he abducted this woman.

Slowly but surely the horrified screams around them came to an halt. The last of those, who had been unfortunate enough to be lifted off the ground by a smaller pillar of ice to be impaled on it's tip breathed their last breath and calmed down.

Gato looked up to Haku, who had slowly approached to them and was now staring directly into his eyes.

"You... were planning to get rid of him either way, right?" he asked in a voice that implied neither sadness nor a threat, just a question, asked out of curiosity.

Gao gulped.

"You know... if it's the money you care about... You can have the whole right now. I mean... It's not like he'd need it or anything." Nodding to Zabuza, he tried a businesslike smile which immediately froze in his face, when he looked at Haku's expression.

"I don't think so."

He stomped on the ground and a needle-thin spear blossomed from only a few drops of water. The ice grew with an amazing speed until it reached Gato's chin. However it didn't stop growing there. After it pierced the skin, it ran though his skull, eventually reaching the brain and killing Gato. In the single second all of that was happening, Gato's eyes widened. It seemed as if he'd only realized that he was already dead and his body was simply following. A small drop of blood ran down his chin and splahed on the ground... strangely enough it wasn't black. He found it quite reassuring to die a human – he, who had been called a heartless monster so many times. Afterall, he was only human.

The merciless, cruel expression disappeared like a shadow from Haku's youthful face as Gato sunk down on the spear, until his skullcap stopped the ice from adcancing.

Geta released Tsunami the very moment, Gato sunk down; his contract had been terminated: now he wouldn't get his money. He had no more reason to hold onto this useless hostage. He figured, he could move his feet again and turned his back at Haku, taking his leave without a single word. The boy didn't stop him and just stood there, glaring at Gato.

Just when Haku was starting to reminisce about his times with Zabuza, while watching the corpse of the man, who had caused his death, he was disturbed by a sound in his back.

"Tsunami! By god, I'm glad you're safe."

Tazuna embraced his daughter and gave Haku a frightened look. So did Naruto and Sakura. They all watched him as if... he had just murdered dozens of people. Only Kakashi and Sasuke seemed to take this slaughter relatively lightly, as they just unemotionally measured him, trying to estimate how much of a threat he was.

Naruto's thoughts were racing: He fought an urge to panick over the massacre, Haku created, driven mad by Zabuza's death. This demonstration of brutality truly shocked him and reminded him again, that death was not something he would always be able to escape from. He remembered how easily Sasuke had been threatening the lives of Gato's followers, as if he didn't care if they died or lived, but in fact he took this as lightly as a game.

These thoughts were disgusting Naruto now – the complete disregard for human life a shinobi was expected to display and that all of this could end every moment. When he made this realization, he quickly glanced to his left and could tell from the look on Sakura's face that she was thinking the same.

This was truly something to be afraid of and – although Haku remained calm and was just standing there... he even seemed to be on the verge of tears – couldn't help but picture this boy as a monster and a mass-murderer. No. Somehow he was like him. In his dream, Haku, whom he believed to be a girl, told him about how fighting for someone would mean to get stronger and be the most noble of motivations. It was hard to comprehend, but in a way, he was right – there was a similarity in their way of thinking that was almost disturbing him. Both of them would sacrifice everything to their dream and Haku had been ready to pledge his life to Zabuza. Naruto on the other side now felt that he didn't even knew what it really meant to _sacrifice _something. Now he knew and he was unsure if he wanted to continue walking down this road, that inevitably lead to pain and destruction. He would never be able to reach anything without sacrificing something else, but this was just too much.

Reluctantly he shook his head. Nothing would come of him, just giving up now.

"I'll never have to do this... And I will survive."

Feeling as if he had to say this out aloud, he earned the attention of those around him.

And then after what felt like an eternity, Haku moved.

He slowly treaded to Zabuza's corpse, picking it up. Noone stopped or tried to attack him, even though they had a clear advantage in numbers, chakra and techniques over him, something was keeping them from attacking him. It was not fear, but something like pity.

Shouldering his dead mentor and firmly checking his pulse, he was performing a medical eximantion of the corpse that had once been his partner. Haku also made an effort to pick up the reamains of his mask, hiding them away under his shirt.

With a now motionless face, he turned at Kakashi, calmly drawing forth a scroll from his sleeve, opening and placing it on the ground.

„This isn't over." he said, positioning his hand on the middle of the scroll. „I will never forgive you for what you've done."

When he uttered these words, mist started undulating from the scroll, engulfing Haku and making it impossible to detect him. Kakashi and Sasuke however, easily identified the Jutsu. The scroll was replicating the hiding in mist technique and probably an escape tool given to Haku by Zabuza.

Although the mist was blocking their sight, everyone could feel that Haku had vanished. When the fog started to lift, a small boat came into sight, that seemed to move indepentendly away from the island towards the coast of the main land. On board stood Haku, covering his damaged eye with his right hand. A breeze in the channel played with his brown hair and, even if he was already too far away for them to reach him with any Jutsu or weapons, it was almost possible to see the bitterness in his gaze.

Kakashi stood on the middle of the bridge with his arms crossed and his head turned away from the small ship. He closed his eyes for a moment, sighed deeply and then nodded at Tazuna.

"I guess now you can freely build your bridge. I am sorry we didn't capture the boy but I doubt, he'll come back here."

Tazuna, who had simply been staring at the carnage, Haku left behind, nodding and sighing as well.

"R-Right... I don't think so either. I thank you for protecting me and... well, I'm sorry for drawing you into this mess. I just hope, it's over now."

"It's okay." Kakashi assured him. "I'm glad we could help. We are leaving once you finished your work, just to be sure."

"Yeah, if I can get the others motivated again, we might make it in a week or so... I'm sorry, I'm just a little..."

„I can understand that." Kakashi said. „Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto! We're staying and making sure that everything goes smoothly."

„Understood!" they replied in unison. Although the order was clear and simple, it left a bad feeling in them. After what happened today, they didn't know if everything in the country of waves would simply return to normal for good. It had been shocking for Tazuna and his family but the villagers were now free and the ideals, Kaiza, Inari's stepfather had been fighting for, prevailed. As Tazuna told them, his death had been the key to oppress the villagers.

The change eventually came and people would learn to trust themselves again – in the end, not only Kaiza's spirit but also the community continued to exist.

After a week Tazuna had finished the bridge as scheduled. There wasn't a big ceremony to officially open the bridge. A mere sign was planted, labelling it the 'Red Ice Bridge'. Over this bridge Team seven left the country of waves. It had been an exhausting mission but it gave them confidence that they overcame the odds and survive. The did it now and woud do it again – surviving and getting stronger.

-End of Chapter 1-


	3. Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2: Opposition

It was hard training they wanted and it was training they got. When the team returned to Konoha, it seemed as if they spend ages on the mission in the country of waves. Somehow the experience there had changed them: Although it was hard to accept they all had come to realize, that death was always close to them. This was one reason Sasuke and Naruto had almost literally been begging Kakashi on their knees for harder training. The copy-ninja was far from refusing this and so they trained every day, when they weren't on missions. Regularly, Sasuke and Naruto practiced until even the next morning, whenever they weren't assigned to something important.

For Kakashi this was even harsher: Even though Sasuke and Naruto would often train on their own or complete tasks only in competition, Sakura seemed to be always a step ahead of them in terms of chakra control and shape manipulation. To avoid just making her throw kunais at dummies all day, Kakashi intensified her Genjutsu-training. He was sure that, given the proper amount of time, her skills would eventually be equal to those of Yuuhi Kurenai, Konoha's number one Genjutsu-expert.

While Konoha possessed quite a variety of different types of Ninjutsu and other offensive techniques of great destructive force, all of them dangerous and intimating, such as the Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan, the Shadow Imitation of the Nara clan or the Secret Insect techniques of the Aburame clan. Yet none of these abilities could compare to what a skilled Genjutsu user could achieve. It was a path that was hardly fitting for anyone and very few specialized in it. But those who did, became feared masters of their art, such as Yuuhi Kurenai.

Kakashi respected her as a fellow Jonin and knew just too well, how powerful she was. He figured that after he reached his limit in fostering Sakura's Genjutsu and honing her skills in Chakra control, he would have to ask Kurenai for help. He couldn't remeber if she ever had an apprentice, but it was rather unlikely, since she just recently had been promoted to Jonin level.

However, even Kakashi was surprised by the effort every member of Team seven put into their training. The sparring matches between Naruto and Sasuke usually ended in a draw of a win for Sasuke, who was experimenting with his fire release in various ways. During their last fight, he used his kunai and several wires to build up a net between the trees and then used his fire release to set ablaze every single wire, eliminating all of Naruto's shadow clones at once and winning him the fight with a surprise a ttack. It was the same day that Sakura had finally been able to catch Kakashi in her Jutsu for longer than a split second.

After numerous attempts, she finally came to realisation that sh would never be able to trap Kakashi in a Genjutsu that would originate from his own fear. A Jonin and former member of Anbu was someone, who'd knew perfectly well how to control and suppress his own emotions. But this defense could break if one were to hit a weak spot. Some memories could not be contained forever and even they were easily shut out in a battle, the recreation of a central scene of these memories would cause the dam to break, make him weak and defenseless.

Based on this assumption, she pepared her technique. Kakashi was as always simply standing in front of her, reading in his newest acquisition: "Flirting Violence", waiting for her technique to take effect. Since he taught her how to bestow a Genjutsu without needing to make eye-contact, he had been able to finish about eight chapters per training session. It had only been troublesome when he needed to long to dispel the effect of the Hell-viewing technique. When this happened, he sometimes lost the last sentence he read and had to read a page all over again. But this time it was different... her technique never took effect. Instead, Kakashi was experiencing something between bliss and the feeling that he had accomplished something. When he raised his head from the book to look at Sakura, all members of Team seven were standing in front of him side by side grinning from ear to ear... at least Naruto was as he stepped forward and bowed down.

"You know... Sensei. We all wanted to thank you! I mean, you did so much for us so far and we were never able to express our graditude correctly. That's for you!"

He opened his pocket, took out a flat, wooden chest and then bowed again, presenting him with a humble look on his face.

"Uh - Thank you guys, you really needn't..." Kakashi was mumbling as he took the chest and opened it.

Something was suspicious about the item inside: He had seen this sort of kunai before. Made of something that appeared to be greyish glass, fragile but beatiful and more fit for decoration than battle, it consisted of three blades. A bigger one in the mid and two smaller ones a the side. The handle was thicker than usual and the whole construction reiminded him of... No! It was one of the kunais that Minato Namikaze had always been using.

Why did they give this to him? And how did they know? Kakashi smoothed down his yellow hair and looked at Naruto. The goggles he wore were new. Since when did Naruto wear orange goggles?

_This cannot possibly be real._

Kakashi turned his head to Sasuke, who somehow reminded him of himself. That white, spiky hair, the bored look on his face, even though he was witnessing a touching ritual of gratitude, the tanto on his back... Only now he realized, what was happening. Sakura caught him in her Genjutsu all along. But this was new. This was none of his memories or fears - It was Sakura, manipulating his subconscious to find an opening.

Even before he looked at her, he knew what he was going to see. He also knew that he wouldn't like the shape, her illusion would be taking. He just felt that he had to do it. Maybe to repent? Or simply to see her again, the way he remembered her before he killed her. Kakashi slowly opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of Rin, with her friendly and caring smile, her warm brown eyes and a hole in her chest, that had completely burned out, eaten away by Chidori.

Kakashi picked up his book from the ground and took a deep breath.

"Well done, Sakura. You really got me this time."

A big smile flashed over her face.

"Thanks... but it was only for a couple of seconds."

"In most cases, this is the time that decides over life or death. Remember this... By the way, I am glad, you got a bit more creative with that technique. Even I will only produce some dead beloved ones or a giant spider-monster in most of the cases. If you keep this up, I will soon have nothing left to teach you about Genjutsu. But this is just fortune telling. I am pretty interested in what will come of this and think that you really have some potential in you."

Kakashi was speaking in his usual neutral way, his face a mask of calm professionalism. Yet somewhere in his voice there certainly was a bit of pride. Should he really be proud of her? In the end he was mostly doing this, to make her feel better about herself. If she would only have confidence in her own abilities, she would also become more self-confident and thus get along better with everyone – especially with Naruto. Whenever she was feeling weak or useless she had to make up for it by acting unkind and picking on Naruto, the only one she considered herself to be superior to. And lately, with the gigantic leaps Naruto was taking in terms of chakra control and his fighting ability, this was something that had started to crumble over the past few weeks.

But this time Sakura was just happy. She had accomplished something, that probably neither Sasuke nor Naruto would be able to do with the same training. Maybe she wasn't totally useless after all...

Just in time Naruto appeared right next to her, out of the blue, with a big grin.

"I didn't really get what you did, but nice work!" he said, but his futile attempts to encourage her was simply ignored. What did grasp Sakura's and everyone's attention was the congratulations of another person, who was approaching them in company of her fellow team members.

"Oh, yeah... Sakura was always a bright star, wasn't she?" Ino said with a slight snickering, throwing back her long blonde hair in a gesture of arrogance. Her blue eyes were filled with both resentment and envy, but she kept her voice perfectly in control so it would not give away her bad mood immediately, although it got quite clear from her envious looks and her almost accusing posture towards Sakura. At her side stood Shikamaru, his head kept low in a vain attempt at being as unsuspicious as possible, his heand buried deep in his pockets. On his toes followed Choji, currently stuffing himself with chips from a bag in his left hand, crumbling and munching in disregard of his surroundings.

"Well, well if it isn't that Ino-pig." Sakura quickly replied. "Did the urge to see Sasuke training grow so strong you just _had _to come here? Because it's hard to believe that you are paying us a visit just out of pure politeness, right?"

Sasuke, who was usually first topic, when Ino and Sakura collided, sighed and shrugged. He could hardly deny that he took at least peripheral interest in the two girls fighting over him, but he also knew that they were just fixated children with no understanding of his personality whatsoever. He avoided thinking too hard about this topic and rather invested the energy in training harder to eventually be able to beat Itachi and avenge his family. Allowing distraction would mean defying his purpose, his very own raison d'être.

Ino was shouting something back in an agitated way, again throwing back her hair as if she wanted to catch everyone's attention towards it. Suddenly, Shikamaru took a step forward and – to their surprise – interrupted her rant.

"Just because you are old friends doesn't mean you have to be chit-chatting all day over your silly girl topics..." Not awaiting any replies or rather not giving anyone the time to react, he continued. "You have all the time to talkthis out, when you have a tea party or something. For now, we came here with a question in mind that concerns all of us, right?" After Shikamaru ended he looked at Ino in the most bossy way he could. Her reaction was another spiteful look at both him and Sakura as well as a slight angry trembling of her arms and voice, when she answered:

"Yeah, right... Go on and tell them."

Shikamaru just nodded and sighed out loud to underline how unintrested he was in this whole matter. Even so, he immediately came to the point, after he demonstrated his lack of motivation, by yawning.

"When we came from our training we met some really creepy guys, who said they were from Sunagakure. When we asked them, why they made the effort to travel to Konoha, they told us they came for the Dango and the Chuunin Selection Exam. Since we didn't hear anything about this from Asuma and couldn't ask him, 'cause took the rest of the day off, after buying some flowers at Ino's, we figured we'd ask Sensei Kakashi to tell us a bit more. This whole thing doesn't really excite me too much, 'cause i don't really want to participate, but Choji and Ino got pretty excited, so they dragged me here." He crossed his arms behind his neck and looked at them one by one.

"So... are you just going to tell us, you know nothing about this, Sensei?"

Kakashi doubtfully scratched his head. Originally, he had been planning to propose Team seven's participation in the exam at the meeting that the Hokage had set for this evening. And despite his skills concerning persuasion and negotation, Shikamaru's blunt questions had caught him flat-footed.

"Well... uhm..." he mumbled. "I don't really know..." trying to come up with something that would not cause too much suspicion, he vaguely waved his hands at the forest and sighed internally. Naruto came to his aid as he jumped forward as soon as Shikamaru had finished, his eyes blazing with excitement.

"Did you say Chuunin-Exam!? Are we going to become Chuunin now!? Hell yeah!" Naruto screamed at him and raised his fists. Shikamaru on his part tried to desperately get some distance between him and the overly motivated Naruto.

"Shut up." he moaned, moving farther away from the light-hearted and evenly light-headed future Chuunin. "Jeez, you are all way too excited about this crap. Why don't you take things a bit easier? Not everyone has to lead a squad before he can even grow a beard. I, for my part, would just love to do D- and C-Ranks for the rest of my life."

Even if none of the others openly disagreed with him, it was clear that he was an outsider with that opinion. Even Choji wanted to get better to earn everyone's respect and appreceation. And while they worked together in order to reach their goal, their intentions would mostly just end up being the want to obtain something for themselves. Shikamaru considered himself an exception from this although he realized that the things that he valued the most – security and an easy life – only lied at the end of the path of being a ninja. It was not even certain that he would reach this end at all.

Naruto could comprehend this attitude. He puffed himself up and planted himself in front of Shikamaru.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you get excited, when you think about just already being a Chuunin? It's like a gigaaantic step forward. By the way... what exactly do they want you to do at the Exam?"

His zeal slowly subsided and he came to wonder if he, who hardly managed to pass any tests at school and always struggled with even the most simplest of techniques would even have a chance at an exam like this, where ninjas from all sorts of places participated. Shikamaru, who bore the expression of someone who had just undergone serious mental torture, pointed out what not only Naruto, but everyone was thinking.

"See? You dont even know that and yet you think you will even have a chance at the exam? You're such a dreamer."

Kakashi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and answered to Shikamaru directly. "I think that my team definitely has what it takes to become Chuunin. And as far as I know, Asuma thinks the same of you, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji. Still, I don't know whether the Hokage will allow all of you to participate. You all have completed more than eight missions, which means you're perfectly eligible to partake in this. But in all honesty there are still some concerns about your seriousness. And I can see why." He shrugged as if he did not really care about the whole story and then continued. "Nah, I guess it is just too early for you guys. I'll ask Asuma to reconsider his proposition, too."

"What!?" Naruto threw out his arms and shouted out loud the disappointing feeling of discouragement, Kakashi's words had left behind. "This is our chance! Kakashi-sensei, if you want us to prove that we're ready... we... we... uhm..."

Sasuke made a step forward and completed Naruto's sentence for him.

"We'll beat you right here, right now."

It was impossible to determine Kakashi's true thoughts. He seemed to be neither intimated, nor in the mood to laugh about his suggestion.

"I think you overestimate yourselves." Kakashi replied. It was clear that everyone on Team seven was eager to pick a fight with him and put their skills to test in an all-out battle. However, it hadn't been for too long since they fought Zabuza of the hidden mist. Only his water clone had been enough to fight both Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously, while he kept Kakashi in a water prison. Furthermore Kakashi proved in their last fight that he was considerably stronger than Zabuza. There was simply no way, that even the three of them would stand a chance against both his superior Jutsu and experience. Even for a Jonin and former ANBU Kakashi's abilities were outstanding. Three Genin couldn't be much of a problem for him.

Sasuke grinned supercifially. "If you are afraid, Sensei, we can maybe ask the other team to join in as well? Perhaps then you might be willing to lower yourself to at least fight us, straight up."

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji looked at each other in confusion. It didn't seem to them like a good idea to fight Kakashi. In fact they would have been afraid even if it were to be a fight six on one. Kakashi just shook his head.

"If you want to fight, Sasuke, it will be you three. You are my students, so I don't have to hold back if I fight you." He let his gaze wander over their formation, Naruto and Sakura were stand left and right in Sasuke's back. The latter looked as if he had already won the fight that he had been provoking so eagerly. Shikamaru was muttering something in a relieved way and Choji, constantly increasing the rate at which he stuffed himself as a result to his growing nervosity, was relieving himself of the accumulated pressure by popping his empty bag of chips. Team seven took their position and waited until their Sensei nodded to confirm the challenge.

"I really thought Naruto would be the one to suggest this - I guess, I underestimated your will to prove yourselves. Well then: The fight ends if none of you can fight anymore or you give up. The same goes for me. If I am unable to continue or give up, you win. We have three hours until the meeting. If you win in time, I promise, I will get the Hokage to allow you to take the test. Is everything clear? Then... begin!"

Immediately, Kakashi jumped backwards. In his pockets, he readied smoke bombs as a distraction to get some safety distance between him and his students. Still mid-air, he flung out his arms, dropping the smoke bombs and creating two shadow clone. They split up, each running to a different side of the big cloud that was now covering the center of the glade.

Tensely, the real Kakashi peered into the greyish-black smoke when suddenly a giant fireball cut through the smoke right in front of him. Blazing tongues licked at his feet and arms, hungrily trying to devour him completely. However, Kakashi was not so easily caught. He tumbled to the side over the soft grass that was luckily not dry enough to immediately catch fire. The inferno to his right stopped and out of the smokescreen jumped half a dozen Narutos, each one charging at him from a different angle.

_These are mere clones. No reason to back off just now._

The copy ninja accumulated his chakra and used it to speed up his movements to the point of being untracable with the mere eye. He then used his sharingan ability to dictate his sped up muscles the movement of the Taijutsu, he had copied from the person in Konoha who was probably most adept at it, Might Guy. The Great Konoha Whirlwind let the first two Narutos simply pop like bubbles in the air. The third and fourth one evaded the low kick but Kakash simply popped them with second part, a middle kick as he spun around, propelling himself higher into the air with increasingly faster movements. The fifth Naruto was sent to the ground with a gruesome smack. Immediately after this Naruto hit the grass, the remaining clone disappered for good.

_I think, i didn't hit him correctly._

When Kakashi bowed down to pick up the injured Naruto, his mere reflexes saved him from the explosion that was originating from the explosive tags on the clones body. The shock wave pushed Kakashi away for a bit but he was able to regain his balance and firmly slide away over the ground.

_What happened to my clones?_

As the fight unfolded, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were simply watching in awe. Surprisingly enough, Sasuke's and Naruto's cooperation seemed to work flawlessly. While the Sharingan cleared any ocular obstructions for them and identified the real Kakashi, Sakura was preparing her explosive tags to turn one of Naruto's shadow clones into a living bomb.

"Wow, they are really blowing everything, huh? I guess it's time for the big guns..." Shikamaru said with his constantly nagging and lamenting voice. Ino smacked him over the head and snapped back at him: "Maybe you could learn a thing or two from them! Just watch how nicely Sasuke techniques are pressing Kakashi-sensei! He's just too cool."

Shikamaru moaned and held his head."Yeah, yeah, I get it. He's great and I'm not. Can you please cut it out now?"

"Tze, you just don't know how talent and natural capability in unison create such an elegant fighting style."

"This sounds like you got it from some cheesy novel or something... Did you read some of Asuma-sensei's books?"

His words caused Ino to smack him once again over the head and this time fondling his stomach with her knee as well. Shikamaru's negative attitude and cocky remarks freaked her out on a regular basis and he was just as regularly paying the price of it. Their confrontation was however put on hiatus as the explosion from the Naruto-clone wiped out a huge part of the ground and splattered parts of grass and dirt all over the battlefield.

When the smoke cleared both the remnants of Kakashi's bombs and his clones had vanished. Now without any form of cover against three opponents at once, he was essentially pushed into a corner.

Confidence grew in Naruto, when they actually almost got a clear hit on Kakashi. That the Jonin was not able to evade their attacks in the blink of an eye like he did during the bell test must have been because the training they had absolved so far. Kakashi was now on the defensive side, not able to lead the flow of the battle. It was their chance to take action and finish him with a well timed combination of shadow clones, fire release and Genjutsu. However, Kakashi had yet to use his trump card, the sharingan and although he barely avoided their last attacks because of exceptionally quick reflexes, he was hardly showing any signs of exhaustion or looked even troubled, for that matter.

Instead, Kakashi was already performing hand seals. With his speed, not even Sasuke could read the technique as it was one they had never even seen him use before. A sequence of more then twenty-two seals, starting off from the horse and ending with the snake. Everything in between was a simple blurr even to their trained eyes. Only Sasuke's Sharingan enabled him to connect the the seals roughly to the earth release and something that appeared to be the Great Waterfall technique. By the moment he made this realization it was already too late for the three to react. He could simply shout a short commando before Kakashi's hands hit the surface and caused the ground to shake.

„Split up! Now!"

The Jutsu changed the face of the battle completely, between Kakashi's opponents the ground started to break open, rumbling and then erecting huge walls of earth. About three metres in height, none of them was able to simply jump over them. In the very moment they realized, that they had been completely separated, the walls started emitting a film of mud and eventually looked like they were constantly melting and re-forming themselves. Naruto sreamed out and tried to jump over the barrier but as soon as his feet touched the surface and he started to use his chakra to stick onto the wall, the flow of mud took him down and caused his feet to lose their stickyness. No matter how much he tried – this wall was simply an insurmountable obstacle and he wasted his time, trying to climb it. In despair he slammed his hands against the surface of flowing dirt. Then he turned around to search for Sasuke and Sakura. He was not willing to give away his position by shouting, but could not deny that he would have to consider this as a last resort if he were to face Kakashi alone. If he picked them off one by one, the fight would be his to take. They had to find a way to rally and reposition. However, Naruto had no idea how big the labyrinth was and doubted that, without an overview, he would be able to find an exit let alone his fellow team members.

Kakashi stood on the outside of the giant labyrinth he created. Only he knew it's exact structure and the way in and out. Still, it costed him a great amount of chakra to both create and maintain the trap.

He had to permanently support the walls with water too keep them muddy and tolerant to physical attacks. If he failed to keep this flow up, it would become easy to just climb the walls or destroy them. He had to finish Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto quickly and one by one or he would run out of chakra before the time was up. There was no way he would be able to fight and maintain his mud labyrinth for any longer than one or two hours an only if he relied on techniques that didn't use up too much chakra. He made the decision to bet everything on his Mud Labyrinth to keep them split up and give him the advantage. His first move would be to pick of Sasuke, whom he considered to be the greatest threat because of his proficiency with the fire release and his sharingan. Then he would try to finish of Naruto, whose clones were his only way of attack and defense. Which meant, if he used his sharingan against them, he could end this fight in a matter of seconds. His fight with Sakura would be decided by his ability to resist her Jutsu with the Sharingan. Judging from her current level of experience this would be a quite easy task to accomplish. This plan based on the thesis that the three of them would be either caught of guard by him and could not alarm the others in time, or would refuse to work together with them. In this regard he could also judge their situation as a team. Based on that he would probably suggest them as participants for the Chuunin exam, even if they failed at taking him down. His comment on the lack of motivation had been only to tease Shikamaru and not to provoke a fight. Yet, this was an unexpected opportunity for him to see how far they had really gotten since they left the country of waves. With those thoughts in mind, he activated his Sharingan to keep tracks with his surroundings and entered the maze.

Sasuke was not as worried as Naruto, concerning his situation. In secret he had been hoping to be split from the others in order to fight Kakashi all by himself. Ever since they returned from the country of waves, his urge to prove himself had been growing, an urge to test his own strength. If he could beat Kakashi in a duel, maybe he would even stand a chance against Itachi.

At the brink of his sight he noticed a movement only to see Naruto coming around the corner.

_How disappointing._

The personification of overconfidence smiled when he saw Sasuke, and waved at him.

"Hey, finally found you, man! Geez, I had no idea, how big this thing is."

Sasuke stood still as Naruto ran towards him with a relieved expression. Something was odd about this behaviour. Although Sasuke couldn't completely explain what troubled him, he sensed an incoming danger. He looked up to the sky, looked behind him, but there was nothing in sight - even with the Sharingan.

"Whatever..." he replied. "We should pick up Sakura and search for Kakashi-sensei, or the time will run out, before we even get a scratch onto him."

He continued his path down the corridor of dirt, not paying any attention to Naruto whatsoever. At least he was not a burden to him. His short-tempered actions and naive view on things were something that Sasuke despised to the utmost, yet he had to acknowledge Naruto's power. He glanced back at Naruto, following an instinct to measure his strength visually. Instead of the usual looks of rivalry and provocation, Naruto had been overwhelmed from behind by Sakura and another Naruto. They pressed the impostor's face into the ground, placing a kunai in his back. With one swift strike, the tip of the kunai glided into the body, causing it to dissolve into a cloud of grey smoke.

"What the...!" Sasuke gave expression to his surprise but quickly recovered his straight face.

"I see. It's my fault, I failed to notice the shadow clone with my Sharingan. Normally I should be able to detect something that obvious right away."

Naruto tried to pat his back in a friendly manner. Deflecting his arm, Sasuke endured the painfully ironic grin.

"Don't worry, Sasuke-chan. We're here to save, just as usual."

"Say that again, you wannabe-Chuunin."

"Gladly, Mr. Scaredy-cat. Should I spell it out for you?"

"Cut it out, you two! Now!" Sakura took a deep breath and yelled at them. If they couldn't work together properly, even in a situation like this, she would have to force them. Sometimes, someone on the team just had to keep a cool head. Even if she would have preferred Sasuke to take up the part of the leader, he was frequently caught up in seemingly trivial fights with Naruto over the most simplest of things. In those situations she was the one to keep the team together and make sure that things went smoothly.

"Look..." she continued. "Now, that we can act as a team again, we should make use of this and look for an exit. With your Sharingan we'll be able to find it rather quickly, right? Sasuke?"

The two boys backed off grudgingly but played along with her, submitting to the urge of the situation.

"I'll do what I can." Sasuke promised."„A minute before, the chakra was running in this..." He got cut off by a cracking at their feet. The ground broke up, spitting out two Kakashis eacht armed with a single kunai, next to both Naruto and Sakura. The two clones performed a single seal, too fast for them to counteract in any way. In the blink of an eye, brown liquid surrounded Sakura and Naruto, rendering them motionless. The Water Prison around them forced them to hold their breath and Sasuke to fight the five other clones that were appearing from the wals and underground all by without the element of surprise, Kakashi's clones proceeded more carefully, slowly cornering Sasuke , making him slowly back off from his captured comrades. However, the Uchiha, forced into a situation where he depended solely on his own skill, unleashed his true combat expertise. Faster than ever before he drew his shuriken and threw them at the closest target in less than a split-second. Even if he missed, he kept rotating, desperately trying to keep the multiple Kakashis at bay with a hail of thrown weapons. At the end of this futile attempt, his pockets were empty and only two of the shadow clones had been destroyed. The remaining three still made it impossible for him to even get anywhere near Naruto or Sakura. From above he heard a familiar voice. Kakashi stood on the very top of the wall right behind Sasuke in perfect balance.

"You can give up, now. I think it is clear, who will win, from this point."

"You think so, huh? Then how about this!?" Sasuke picked up the dozens and dozens of wires he had attached to the shuriken and kunai, creating a web that covered the entire corridor. Each and every clone was now caught in this trap and he was about to pull the trigger.

"Fire release: Dragon Fire technique!"

Spark over spark emitted from his palms, turning into hundreds of blots of fire that ran accross the wires creating an inferno around Sasuke. Just like Naruto, Kakashi didn't have an answer to that either. He could simply watch as his clones were annihilated by an ocean of small flames popping one after another with a subtle 'poof'.

"Well, too bad." he said reluctantly. "I guess, I give up."


	4. Chapter 2 Part 2

"Are you fucking with us!?" Sasuke was furious. "What is this supposed to mean? Just because I killed your puny little shadow clones? No way!"

As Sasuke yelled at him, Kakashi calmly jumped down in the mud and released the Labyrinth technique. The walls started to crumble and fall down, leaving behind about thirty piles of dirt. He had neither a single scratch on him, nor did he looked exhausted or even very interested in Sasuke's rant. In a flash, he stood before them with his usual unreadable expression.

"I saw what I wanted to see."

"And that's..." came a protest from Sasuke, which was quickly cut off by Kakashi's outward-facing palm, ordering him to stop talking.

"Let me finish, first. I saw what I wanted to see and moreover I think, that you are suited to become Chuunin, even if you'd never actually stood a chance against me. If I wanted to, I could have ended the battle in the first battle. But then I wouldn't have been able to make any observations on the succes of your training and your team work. Furthermore there was another reason."

"What would that one be...?" Sasuke was still looking infuriated over Kakashi's game but was trying his best to control his emotions. All three of them knew that Kakashi was completely right, when he said, that he could have ended the fight immediately. He was a Jonin, afterall.

"Well" Kakashi went on. "While it is true that the meeting is in three hours..." His voice suddenly changed. He now sounded overly excited and even though his mouth was concealed one could imagine the huge grin on his face. "I planned to watch a sneak preview of the Flirting Paradise movie at the theatre."

This conclusion shocked them. They simply didn't know how to react. Both Sasuke's and Naruto's mouths fell open, as they stared at Kakashi. Sakura on the other hand, got a hold of herself rather quickly and did what everyone wanted to do, after they had been able to fully grasp the meaning of Kakashi's last sentence: She ran at her Sensei with a furious scream and, before the latter could react, sent him to the ground with a punch to the face. This sudden act of unforseen violence was a rather extreme way of expressing her feelings, but noone really criticized her for it.

Instead, Naruto was cheering her on with excitement, whereas Sasuke, who seemed to be deeply disappointed by this turn of events, turned around and went off. What he wanted to be a serious test to his skills and a way to prove his power to himself, had turned into a show act, a mere distraction for Kakashi. Of course he would say that he had been carefully evaluating their success and ability to cooperate, but in reality, Sasuke believed, this white-haired slacker just killed some time playing with them. And above all, he could not stand not being taken seriously. He rushed off to the city centre with the intention to find a place to clean himself and his clothes of the mud that covered the usually clean and soft cloth of his blue jacket.

But just as he was about to reach the village, his ears caught the rattling of a single person following him through the woods from the direction of the third training ground. He jumped up and stopped completely, concealing himself with leaves and branches and waiting for his pursuer to pass him.

When the person came into sight, he easily recognized her by her long, blonde ponytail and the purple clothing: Ino Yamanaka. The second girl that had been clinging onto him since his first year at the academy. A situation which had been continously growing worse until graduation, upon which he had been blessed by at least having not to deal with her during his training. Up until now his aim had been, by avoiding closer contact to her or Sakura to systematically starve their interest in him. But right now a collision seemed unavoidable.

He allowed himself to drop a few levels through the treetop, safely landing right beside Ino, who had been stopped after his trail had disappered and was looking on the ground for any indicators of a hostile takeover or a possible abduction of her target.

„Oh!" She emitted a slightly surprised sound of joy. „I didn't know you went _this _way, Sasuke."

„What a blatant lie that is. You were following me, weren't you?"

His blunt way of revealing her intentions dyed Ino's cheeks in a light red.

„I... you know... didn't really..."

Sasuke sighed. His interest in conversing with a person as boring as this daughter of middle-class ninjas born into a middle-class clan, doomed to eternally live life as utter average, was effectively zero. Yet on a superficial level, he enjoyed her attention just enough to not directly shrug her off and ignore her foolish ways of trying to be near him.

XXXXX

Another party followed the flow of Kakashi's fight from a farther, safer distance. At the edge of the glade - about fifty metres away from the location, where Team ten had been making their observations – a tree hid the three Otogakure-nin. The person in the middle of the huge branch that was carrying them, didn't show his forehead protector openly as the other two. In fact, everything on him was different. Whereas his companions both had dark hair – the man spiky and unkempt, the woman silky and long – his hair was curly and of a bright white just as the light Yukata he wore. Even his complexion was pale, giving away the image of an albino. Only the eyes didn't fit to this assumption. They were of a white as pure as the rest of his image but appeared to be liquid, making simply looking into them painful. If one were to catch a glimpse of those milky-white, unnerving eyes, it was easy to be lost in their ocean of nothingness.

At first glance this frail and obviously blind boy gave off a laughable image for a ninja and even more so for a henchman of Orochimaru. Yet, he seemed to be emitting an aura of respect and fear, carelessly shaking his uncovered legs from his sitting place in the tree, while the other two covered his left and right side.

The girl, a relatively good-looking person with her long hair, a face that could only be described as "pointy" and the camouflage-patterned outfit, she wore, was standing on the right and the man, with his yellow shirt, marked by three "death" characters and a scarf in the same style as his partners clothing – camouflage- was on the left side, spinning a kunai in his hand with slight nervousity in his look.

"Ahh, calm down, Zaku..." The boy in the middle smiled candidly after the kunai had completed its fourth round. "We're just oberving for now. That's what Orochimaru-sama wants us to do: Get an impression of Team seven and Sasuke Uchiha in particular. Besides, their teacher can't save them during the exam, so we should be fine, when we finally get the order to strike." He uttered a relaxed sigh and continued to sway his legs up and down like a child on a swing. "You'll see... This whole story will be a cakewalk for us."

Zaku nodded against his will. He didn't want to obey this kid, didn't want to go on a mission against a team with a leader like Kakashi, but what he feared more than death was Orochimaru's reaction if the mission were to fail. He knew that Kin was thinking the same way since they both had been witness, when Orochimaru punished their old team leader, Dosu, for failing to get a certain information out of a prisoner and killing him in the interrogation. He had yet to verify the thesis wether the slow peeling of Dosu's skin or the snake poison killed him in the end, but as a result their newest team member had been the strange boy with the name Kumori. Thislyoungster had been bossing him and Kin around for the whole mission, always with a cheerful smile and an odd way of relaxing in the strangest of situations. But Orochimaru's orders were abolute. To defy them would mean having to care for surviving being skinned alive or serving as guinea pigs to the cruel experiments in one of the countless hideouts. Kumori, who bore the confidence and playful nature of someone, who didn't know these fears in the slightest, acted as Orochimaru's voice and seemed to be something like his favorite toy at the moment.

Zaku suspected that the white hair and the blindness of Kumori as well as the weak body and his ashen skin were the result of one of Orochimarus "improvements". Still, he was careful enough not to ask and played along with this kid's strange optimistic and deceptively naive jokes.

Kin finally found the courage to disagree with Kumori. She pointed across the open field, where the walls of mud had collapsed Kakashi was presently getting beaten by Sakura.

"I'm not fighting them. If they are able to hit this guy, they must be much faster than anyone I have fought so far."

Kumori chuckled. He was easily amused and enjoyed the feeling of being superior in his talent for accurate observation and clear thinking.

"You are really gullible, aren't you, Kin? It's - quite frankly – rather obvious, that the white-haired guy was not really hit. He's just a good actor. So you don't need to be afraid of some Genin from Konoha. Besides... neither of our Jutsu can be avoided with speed alone, so you should be fine either way. Like I said: Relax and watch the show..."

Surprisingly, the power to perceive things that the eye didn't catch, was one of Kumori's specialties. Although he was blind, his senses were much improved and he was able to distinguish the scent of two persons from great distance, predict rain just by its sound up to two hours early and lastly he had a different way of seeing. Something more complex than even the Sharingan. The gift of Spirit Seeing.

Kumori's eyes caught the fine traces of life force that every living thing emitted. Similar to infravision, this kind of seeing allowed to trace his prey or estimate their strength simply by seeing a person once. He was able perceive the slightest diruption in the subtle field that every person possessed, making it easy to detect lies or distress even if the person was trained to hide those feelings away. Only people with little or no emotion at all could withstand his interrogation, which was the main reason, the blind child with an abnormal lust for violence was currently Orochimaru's favorite toy. However, even the team that had been made to obey Kumori as if he were Orochimaru himself, feared him and was disgusted by his false nature. There was none of the usual bond of trust that was to be expected by such teams or at the very least a common understanding of ideals and values. If there were to be a situation in which they could choose to stop protecting the fairly weak and helpless Kumori, whose abilites granted him little to no advantages in real combat, they would take the chance without a second thought.

Kumori stopped his swinging and stood up. Zaku immediately stopped spinning his kunai as well and awaited his orders with the usual shiver that resulted from Kumori's look. The latter presented him with a huge smile, revealing his pearly white teeth, that were lined up just perfectly.

"Let's go, okay? I'm bored."

XXXXX

Ino's chance had finally come. For her to be able to walk home with Sasuke and talk to him alone... Even though Sakura was on his team, she was getting ahead. And of course this was not about some little rivalry between girls. It was about true love and the man of her dreams. Or so she thought. For Sasuke, the chatter with the Yamanaka girl was both relaxing and amusing. The frustration that had built up during training and lastly the sparring was slowly drifting away. Mainly, he realized, he was angry at himself for not being able to improve faster and get better results in the training. If he released this tension for a little bit, he hoped, he would eventually releasing his mental blockades, that kept him from improving, as well. Somehow those thoughts rang false in his head but he tried his best to ignore this unsettling feeling. If he wanted to deceive himself for a little bit, who would stop him? Still, he was getting nervous for yet another reason. While Ino blushed and cheerfully snickered even over the most plain of his remarks, he could not help but to feel as if he was being followed. The Sharingan revealed nothing and he was perfectly shure that noone was around either. Afterall, they were now approximately a hundred metres away from the gates of Konoha and noone would risk being detected by the guards, stalking two Konoha-nin just outside the village.

As soon as they reached the gate, the silent threat was gone and all that remained was a strange feeling of angst. Ino, unable to detect his disturbance continued her prattling about how Sakura's forehead was clearly too wide and flowers said more than a thousand words, non-chalantly hinting at her family's flower shop. When she finally blurted out the question if he wanted to come along, Sasuke shook his head, turned around and headed for the opposite direction and the closest Onsen.

Without paying Ino or her flower shop a second thought, Sasuke payed the man at the counter, handed over his clothes for cleaning and entered the male bath on the outside. The hot spring was bordered by rocks on one side and a huge screen, ornamented with depictions of a dragons engulfed in mist curling aroung the tip of a mountain, on the other side, where the female section of the bath was located. When he entered the hot water and placed a cold towel on his head, his attention was almost instantly drawn to the back part of the bath. One of the three persons was no other than Neji Hyuuga, a genius at the gentle fist and bright star of the Hyuuga clan. His face was nearly experssionless and only his forcefully controlled movement and nervous twitching of his right eyebrow indicated just how much he despised the presence of the two men next to him.

They could have been twins if one of them hadn't been for the gap of round about twenty years between them. They shared the same hairstyle, a hideously ugly bowl-cut that resembled a black helmet and both wore something that looked like a bathing suit. A dark blue one-piece dress suited for even the deepest of deeps but certainly not a hot spring.

The two of them, however, didn't seem to be troubled by this fact in the slightest and were presently holding a fierce competition. Who could hold his breath the longest while doing pushups underwater? Neji lent his support to them, by keeping them from pushing themselves up with his feet. When younger one finally admitted defeat and gasped out for air, his head red fom the hot and water and the deprivation of oxygen, his hairstyle remained marvellously intact. Perhaps there was some kind of hardened gel around their heads?

"You beat me, Gai-sensei!" the boy with the strange haircut howled after he regained his breath. "As punishment, I will kick through five logs. And if I'm unable to do that, I will perform onethousand and fivehundred squats." Still hyperventilating, he bowed down, expecting his Sensei's final judgement.

Maito Gai grinned, sending out a beam of concentrated light with his eyetooth in addition to his thumbs up and winking. "Listen, Lee! You have to improve your stamina and strength or you'll never be able to beat me! Ten logs, at the very least! And three thousand squats if you can't do that!"

The harsh words resulted in Lee looking up in tears, clenching his fists and shivering slightly.

"G-Gai-sensei! I never knew you cared about me that much! I will do that!"

With that, Lee bowed again, while Gai nodded in approval.

"That's the spirit. Right, Neji!?"

Neji sighed and nodded as well with less than peripheral interest. He then simply dove into the hot water and ignored the rest of the conversation between Gai and Lee.

XXXXX

After Sasuke stayed undetected, as long as Gai and his pupil held their competition, the two ninja now turned their attention towards the entrance of the hot spring. Gai recognized Sasuke first. The most promising student of his old rival Kakashi Hatake. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the last survivor of the famous Uchiha-clan. Their strength was legendary and this boy certainly inherited a good portion of it, from what he could tell by what Kakashi had told him. His own student, Rock Lee, finally spotted Sasuke as well. It was easy to tell from his determined look and his sudden change towards a more reserved comportment, that he as well came to realize, just who happened to take a bath at the Onsen, Gai's team regularly visited after training. It was none other than the other genius Genin of Konoha besides his teammate, Neiji: Sasuke Uchiha.

While Lee was an able user of Taijutsu and honed his skills with a passion that far exceeded the will of an average human being, he just didn't seem to be able to beat Neiji at all. The Hyuuga was always ahead of him, always mocking the efforts he made and the harsh training he endured just to finally overcome the one, who seemed to be fated to be a ninja of greater strength than anyone else in his age. Sasuke, however seemed like someone, who, albeit often being called a genius as well, predestined to a great future as one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha, would not be able to defeat him so easily. Afterall, if he would challenge him, maybe he would be able to prove just how hard work and dedication could triumph over destination and talent.

However, for now Lee was simply observing Sasuke, who was growing increasingly uncomfortable, being in the same bath as those guys who not only put on such a strange act, but also seemed to know him. Neiji's white and empty eyes followed his every movement, while Gai and Lee stared at him as if they were facing a rare animal that was only wating to be hunted down for trophy. All this attention made him feel more than uncomfortable and it certainly didn't help much, that they were currently alone in the hot spring. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of staring and evaluation, the door was pushed open and a small group of about three men entered. One of them corpulent and bald, the other two slender and slightly drunken. They splashed up the water, as they entered and hurried to distribute flat drinking cups. Then the chubby person filled his cup with a clear liquid from a small bottle and raised it.

"To you, Han. Thanks for inviting us today and good luck with Mina. May your wallet be ever as pleasingly full as it's now! Cheers!" he uttered his toast and began pouring down the alcohol, the other two hooting in agreement and raising their cups as well.

Team Gai took this classic ritual of comradeship as a signal to end their bath and leave the Onsen for now. They settled for the exit under the observation of Sasuke, who was keeping his distance towards the other people in the bath. The last thing he heard from them was the sound of the closing door and the rattling of the shelves in the locker room. For now he decided to listen to chat of the other people in the bath and not to pay too close attention to the strange glares he had been receiving from the other Genin.

"...You know, I actually wanted to visit Konoha, while the exam is on. It's always a great spectacle to see some action and meet people from all around the country. Great, you're marrying around now, man. This way I can enjoy the matches and your party." The skinniest of them grinned and smoothed back his hair, after he took another shot of sake.

"Yeah, I already figured, you might be in town at this time. That's why I invited you, so you can have an extra event on your schedule to get drunk. It's not like I'd like you or anything." Han, the one who brought the alcohol and the cups as well as a dashing smile, replied. "If you are here anyways... might as well come to my wedding, right?"

After this, the three of them bursted out laughing and refilled their cups again. Their topic shifted from marriage over women to work, where it became clear that one of them, was a carpenter, the other one, Han, an official at the construction office and the first one's superior and the last person, who was emptying his cup the fastest was working at a bank in the Country of Birds and was frequently visiting other countries on his business trips. All in all they were nothing but boring persons with boring personalities and Sasuke lost his interest in listening to them any longer. He left the bath, picked up his cleaned clothes from his shelf in the locker room and went home. His intention was to go to bed early and get back to the training ground even before dawn. He'd have to work even harder to prepare for the Chuunin-Exam.

XXXXX

"Yo, Kakashi!" Asuma greeted. "Late as always, are we?" He smiled at at the cryptic looking face that appeared at the landing of the ninja academy's southern stairs the department in which todaays meeting would take place. Kakashi was exactly three minutes late on the assignment, due to the fact that he had stopped for a tea on his way to the academy. He replied to the greeting by nodding in Asuma's general direction and casually waving at Kurenai, who was already present as well. Asuma, accustomed to Kakashi unenthusiastic comportment, kept his smile for a while longer and then proposed to enter the Hokage's office, since it was already past time and it would be rude to make them wait any longer. As neither Kurenai nor Kakashi obejcted, he opened the door that was leading to the office, revealing that the three of them were indeed the last to enter the assembly.

Besides the Hokage, any teamleader, a few selected teachers from the academy, among them Iruka, and the Konoha interrogation force, which was responsible for the first part of the Chuunin selection exam alongside their leader Morino Ibiki were present.

As they entered, everyones eyes fixated the door and the three intruders that dared to appear on delay. Asuma closed the door, hastily bowed down and mumbled something like "'xcuse me...". Kurenai bowed down as well, however far more composed than her smoking colleague.

"Please excuse us." she said, looking up with an engaging smile that would have been enough to even excuse one hour of lateness. It was impossible to ignore her humble plea for forgiveness of the offense and the Hokage cleared his throat several times in succession, unsure how to continue after he had been interrupted so pleasently in his idleness before the start of the meeting. After he cleared his throat a fifth and last time, he stood up and raised his arms.

"Well then. I'd like to declare the start of this meeting. First, I'd like to have this half-year's Chuunin-Exam discussed. I asked you to prepare a list of the students you'd like to participate and I already received Gai's in writing. He recommends every student on his team." A slight mumbling went through the room as this was announced but noone really seemed to want to say something and the Hokage simply continued with his narration. "Since this team has already absolved eighteen missions and has one year of experience as Genin, I've decided to approve of the decision to let them participate: They pass." He declared and looked at Gai, who was smirking from ear to ear and nodding to each and every word, the Hokage said. The Hokage then signed three pieces of paper and handed them over to Gai. "Please inform them about the details and the procedure."

"Of course, Hokage!" Gai grabbed the papers and returned to the back of the room to his place next to Iruka, who was closely watching Kakashi, ever since the Jonin entered the room.

"Next are the leaders of our current rookie squads. Team seven, Team eight and Team ten: Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuuhi and Asuma Sarutobi. Please step forward and name the ones you'd like to recommend."

Kakashi made his move and with a firm voice he listed up every member of Team seven:

"Under my name, Kakashi Hatake, I recommend Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno."

The Hokage shortly nodded and then looked at Kurenai, who listed up every member of her team as well. Finally, Asuma declared just as the other team leaders that he wanted to recommend each of his students. The mumuring that followed this time was stronger than before. And although the interrogation force kept their role as bystanders, one of the teachers, Iruka strongly protested.

"But Hokage-sama! I know those students since they entered the academy and can't approve of this. I know perfectly well that all of them are quite talented, but I think it is too early for them and they..."

"I had been a Chuunin for six years, when I was at Naruto's age, Iruka." Kakashi interrupted his objection. "Please don't interefere with my decision. They are my subordinates afterall and if I want to test if they are able to overcome their childish quirks and annoying attitude, when they are facing a real danger. Of course I consider the psooibility that they might die, but..."

"Then you want them to die!? What the heck are you even saying!?"

"Iruka..." The Hokage silenced the teacher. "I understand what you are saying."

"Then..."

"_However_... I already discussed this with the team leaders in advance. I see that you are worried about your former students. But please accept that they are now first and foremost members of their respective team and as such, the team leader's orders are absolute. The Genin, who have been called out, have all reported remarkable success on even dangerous missions and are among those, who I would recommend myself if I were a team leader."

Iruka, hardly keeping his bearing, shrugged and went back to his place. He looked back at Kakashi with narrowed eyes, disparagingly scrutinizing him.

"Well then..." The Hokage resumed the assembly after he handed out the applications. "Next will be an overview over the first part of the exam by Ibiki Morino: Please continue..."

-End of Chapter 2-


	5. Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3: The Chuunin-Exam Part One

"You are sure about the room, right? 301?"

"One hundred percent sure."

"Then... which floor are we on, now?"

Sakura took a look at the sign over the stairs to confirm their location.

"Second floor. These people are just mistaken. Should we tell them? What do you think?"

Sasuke shook his head after he took a look around the hallway. The place was crowded with small groups each consisting of three people. From the people in the hallway he only recognized Neiji Hyuuga and his team. Their female part was girl in chinese attire with a fitting hairstyle. Her brown hair was worn in buns and she displayed an aura of calmness concealed with a friendly smile. As a contrast to the serious Neiji and the clamorous Lee, she was the medium between those two and acted as a bridge that connected her team. The rest of the ninja were exclusively Konoha-Nin of Genin-rank. Strangely enough neither Kurenai's nor Asuma's team was present.

"Hah, I guess we are only ones in our year, who are good enough to be here." Naruto exclaimed.

"Or maybe.." Sakura interposed. "...the others simply identified the Genjutsu as well and went ahead"

"Ah, I guess, you're right... Didn't think about that. We should go ahead as well. If we dally for too long, we won't be able to turn in our applications and the test will start without us."

Sasuke nodded in approval. There was no sense in wasting time on observing those people, who weren't even able to see through a Genjutsu as simple as this.

As they reached the third floor, they noticed that they had been followed by a single team, that separated themselves from the group in the hallway that were still desperately trying to get past the bouncers that had been set up in front of the feigned room 301. Those people wouldn't even be able to participate at the Chuunin-Exam this year, even if they matched the conditions. However, the three, who tailed Team seven, probably knew all along that the room was just a trap, set up to skim off the less able. There also was a high probability that they had been waiting for them to come along or were at least expecting them.

When Naruto, who was walking behind Sakura and Sasuke, stopped for a second and identified their pursuers, the rest of his team stopped as well. The third floor was almost entirely empty and there were only six people in front of an open room, labelled "301". Neiji just got off the stairs when his and Naruto's eyes met. Their contact remained for merely a split-secod as Neiji simply ignored him and went straight past Team seven without even looking at them for a second time. The girl in the middle of them shortly grinned at them with an expression that was somewhere between provocative and apologetic. Rock Lee, the last one to pass them, hesitated for a second to follow his fellow team members and gave Sasuke a challenging look. All this seemed to happen in such a brief period of time that nobody of them was really able to react. Time around them was simply frozen just until Team Gai entered the room at the end of the hallway.

"Huh, strange guys." Naruto was the first to make a comment. "Did you see the one with the fuzzy eyebrows? My god..."

"You are one to talk. If you would even consider changing into something that is not an ugly orange overall..." Sakura snapped at him and silenced his remark.

"Whatever. We'll do what we came here for and that's it. Stop playing around." Sasuke, composed as always drew his application form and steered towards the room as well. The others followed him without complaints. They knew just as well that they were running short on time. But there was something about this team that upset them. It was a cold aura of aggression that filled the air when Neiji and Lee passed them something that was even more then a normal rivalry. Each of them probably had their own reasons, why they behaved this way. However, currently they were united in the desire to triumph over the most anticipated ninja of the current rookie squads: Sasuke Uchiha.

Team seven received their directions just in time: The first part would held at the ninja academy in one hour and would consist of a written test. Everyone was of the opinion that it would be best to get their as fast as possible. Getting closer to becoming a Chuunin was thrilling enough and every step they made took them farther towards that goal.


	6. Chapter 3-2

The room of the first exam was completely crowded. Ninja from all kinds of different villages of course the majority of them being from Konohagakure. Still there were groups of people from villages that had rarely any contact with other ones. For example, about five of the groups were from Kusagakure and Takigakure, places that were not even remotely close to Konoha but also remained rahther solitary, though Kusagakure had as of late been carefully weaving a net of diplomatic contracts to remain safe in case of a sudden threat.

The second biggest part of participants was made up by those from the village hidden by the sand, Sunagakure. They had send ten team to the Chuunin-Exam, one of them being the rumored "scary guys". Of all the people in the room they, along with the ninja from Ame- and Otogakure were the ones that stood out the most. The smallest of them, a redhaired kid with blue, empty eyes and a gourge over his back as well as the kanji "love" written on his forehead, appeared to be the leading figure. At his side stood a more bulky looking guy, although he maybe only appeared that way because of the wide black clothing, that covered his body in one piece and strechted over his head with two pointy ears at the sides. His face was covered with a war paint in deep purple and on his back was something that looked like a human being, completely covered in bandages to the point of being mummified. The third one of their team was a girl with spiky, blonde ponytails that stood off in four tufts from her head. The object on her back was a giant fan, big enough to provide even a Hokage's summoning with cool and fresh air, albeit this was surely not the way, this girls usually made use of it.

When team seven entered they instantly greeted by the Ino-Shika-Cho-combination or at least their ringleader, in a not too friendly way. The rest of Konoha's rookies were present as well, but remained silently at a corner, cautious not to draw too much attention towards them.

"So Kakashi really lets you participate, huh? Unbelievable." Ino grinned at them with the most slighting smile that she was able to produce. However, the sour look on her beloved Sasuke's face, this provocation was causing, quickly made her correct herself.

"Besides you, of course, Sasuke. It is toooo bad that you have to drag those nuisances with you, isn't it?" Her hastily put-together smile was ending to her sneery and disrespectful tirade.

"Shut up. We're not here to talk." Sasuke's answer was as quick as it was devastating. He didn't seem to have to say anything more than that and simply ignored Ino with a slight shrug.

Even Sakura, who was usually easily provoced by her blonde rival in love, reamained silent. Everyone in the room was getting more and more excited, as the time for the first part of the Chuunin-Exam to begin approached. There were still about twenty minutes left, but a few people were already taking seats in benches of the spacious classroom.

Only one person in the corner the farthest away from the blackboard remained abolutely silent while everyone, even those who were obviously repeating the exam, had a last, nervous chit-chat with their team-members or their friends.

Kabuto was arbitrarily pulling out cards from a stack in his right hand, looking at them and then placing them on top. The reflection in his glasses revealed, that the boy with the greyish hair and intellegent look on his face was always looking at blank cards with nothing written on them, yet he emitted an aura of calmness and routine that was impressive, in regard of the growing noise and overall tension in the room. Naruto's eyes shortly caught contact with his, while he was shuffling the deck and he invinted the young ninja over with a friendly smile, a waving and a subtle, but still reassuring hint at his Konoha forehead protector. Naruto tilted his head slightly in wonder, then observed Kabuto a while more and finally decided to follow his invitation to maybe catch a small part of this strange calmness that was manifesting itself around Kabuto.


	7. Chapter 3-3

Naruto, who had never been very good at written tests (in fact failed every single one, as far as he could remember) was strangely intrigued by Kabuto's composed behaviour. The very next moment, Naruto was already standing besides Kabuto, carefully monitoring the deck of empty cards, that were shuffled over and over.

"Do you want to know, what these are?" Kabuto's smile never even once lost the exact degree of friendliness, that made it the perfect smile for making a good first impression.

"Umm.. Yeah. I'm kinda curious, what you'd need those empty cards for. Doesn't make much sense to me."

"They may appear empty to you at the moment, but if you use your chakra..." Kabuto placed his fingertip on the middle of one of the cards and a small diagram appeared, depicting the number of participating Genin from each village in the form of columns. "...you can see the information, written on it. It is to ensure that it only gets into the right hands... or rather is only seen by the right people."

Naruto understood, that the concept behind these cards, was maybe what would save him in the first exam. In a written test, people would naturally make use of any possibility to bring in cheat sheets or try to peek from their neighbours. Of course someone, who seemed as calm as this guy would have some of these cards prepped to be ready.

"Just out of curiousity... you don't have anything for the test written on those cards? I mean..."

Kabuto looked at him in a slightly amused way and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I don't. Those cards only contain information about economy and personal data most of the ninja here. If you want to, I can show you some of those..."

"Nah." Naruto didn't do a very good job at hiding his disappointment. „I don't really care about those guys. And about the people, I do care about, I already know the most... Huh, Maybe that one with the huge eyebrows. I'd like to know, what kind of type he is."

"If you can't give me any details, I don't know, who you mean. Is it someone from Konoha?"

"Yeah... and he wears this green training-suit with legwarmers... strange haircut?"

"Oh" Kabuto's eyes lit up in comprehension for a second. "I think, I know, who you are talking about. Let me just..." In a matter of seconds, he scanned through the stack of cards and picked one out that didn't differ from the other ones in the slightest. Carefully, he placed the empty card on the ground and pressed his index finger in the middle, slightly rotating the encoded piece of paper, to reveal its contents. After several rotations, an image of Rock Lee became visible as well as a statistic of his missions, a diagram of his estimated strength and his personal data.

"This is him, right?" Kabuto asked, presenting Naruto with the information.

"Yup, no mistaking him. He is quite unique." Naruto confirmed.

"Certainly. Let's see... the name is Rock Lee from Team Gai. He is a last year's rookie and in the same team as Neji Hyuuga and Tenten... just Tenten. His specialty appears to be Taijutsu and he doesn't have any talent for anything else, it seems."

Naruto nodded and then took a look at the card, which was showing a perfect representation of Lee's distinctive haircut from different angles.

"Thanks... uhm..."

"Kabuto. Kabuto Yakushi." Kabuto ended his sentence in the most courteous manner, one could possibly imagine. "Glad I could help someone, who is new to the exam. I'll be rooting for you, Naruto."

The question, when exactly he told Kabuto his name, momentarily crossed Naruto's mind, but he decided not to doubt the person, who had been so willingly sharing information with him. Furthermore, although he didn't learn anything about the exam itself, he felt a strange confidence growing in him. He would definitely make it this year.

_How hard can this test possibly be? Hah!_


	8. Chapter 3-4

A crashing noise and a smokebomb caught everyones attention towards the blackboard. When the smoke cleared, Konoha's interrogation-force had appeared, perfectly in order, with their clean grey button-up suits. In front of the assembled group stood their leader, Ibiki Morino. He was a tall man, with sunburnt, brown skin and a face full of scars. In addition to his long, black coat he also wore a black headband, probably covering even more scars, since some of them were partially covered by the cloth.

With this flashy entrance, the head of the interrogation force demanded absolute respect and most of all silence. He waited a few seconds, until everyone had recognized his arrival and then started to talk in a rough tone that supported his rough apearence.

"I am Ibiki Morino. As a start, please hand in the sheets, you were given, before this exam and take a number. This will determine your seat during the written test. I will explain the rules of this test afterwards. This will be done only once."

There was a slight murmuring that went through the room as well as muffled protests from those, who had nothing better to do than to complain. One by one dropped his papers at the front desk and received a number until everyone was seated. If two members of a single team sat together, the supervisors made it a point to separate them from each other. When everyone was seated, where he was supposed to be and provided with a test, it got quiet again so that Ibiki could continue with the rules.

"Well then: listen closely, as I won't answer any questions afterwards:

You are given ten points at the start. Each of the ten questions is worth one point. If you get a question wrong, it means that your score will be lowered by one. Therefore, if you get ten questions right, you will remain at ten points and if you get three wrong, you will have seven points in the end.

The passing of the test will be determined for each team, seperately. If anyone on a team gets to zero points, the exam for the whole team is over."

A slight urpising was causing noise in the back of the room, mainly Sakura, who, after she repeated the rules in an overly loud manner, angrily glared at Naruto, as if it was certain that he would be the cause of their demise. The slight disorder was quickly silence by Ibiki, who raised his voice and forced everyon to listen, again.

"Cheating... will cost you two points. The examiners will permanently check on you and if anyone is found out more than four times, the test will be over for him and his team. The last of the ten problems will be given to you, after fourty-five minutes. You have a total of one hour for the exam." He paused for a moment, while looking at the clock "Now it's precisely half past three. Begin!"

The people in the room grabbed their pencils and turned around the paper. What followed was a slight moment, in which everyone was reading through the questions, figuring out, which to concentrate on, and which were better to be postponed. The supervisors in the grey uniforms, which had taken position on the sides of the room, were constantly observing and taking notes. Soon both Sakura and Sasuke realized, that the test was not only hard but too hard for anyone on Genin-level and proably most Chuunin as well. Sakura, however was on the safe side. Her overall knowledge had often times been called the best of her year and her written tests had been perfect so far. The questions were challenging for her, but no real problem. On Sasuke's side, things looked differently. He had never been a bad students and his grades in written tests were usually top of the class, but this test was far beyond his level of knowledge. He wasn't able to solve a single one of the question.

_At this rate, I will have to resort to cheating. Luckily, I can copy the movements from someone, who is able to answer these questions with my sharingan, but I don't think that Naruto will have anything up his sleave dnd if he fails, we are finished._


	9. Chapter 3-5

His legs were shaking. His heart was racing and his mind was running in circles. Every single one of his nervous twitchings spelled out his panic. It was like a curse, Naruto couldn't dispell. He couldn't think straight. All his senes had been reduced to the feeling of licking dry lips. Whenever he glanced at his empty sheet with the vague hope, that something might appear right in front of him, he reminded himself that such a wonder was not going to happen. Then, with another twitching, he turned his head slightly – not too much, for he didn't want to arouse anyones attention: Yes, he was totally just yawning! - and repeated the process. This took on the first fifteen minutes of his test and would do until the end. Unable to free himself from the vicious cycle of creating a small shimmer of hope, by unsuspiciously monitoring someone adjacent to him and then discarding it again, by reminding himself of the penalty for cheating. Every moment, he stacked his frustration even higher until the point where he had gladly beaten everyone to a pulp just to get the answers for the first question.

If he cheated, he would get caught. If he didn't, he himself would fail and even his teammated would fail along with him. This thought turned his stomache even more upside down then the idea of just failing himself. Hastily he shook his head as if denying the facts could change the reality, that he was trapped in.

"Psssht, Naruto-kun." the shy voice of Hinata whispered right next to him. In all honesty, he never even noticed her presence. Maybe this girl had a presentiment of what was going head and tried to manipulate him. Afterall, she was on a team with those annoying and creepy dudes.

He tilted his head to her side, to let her know, that he was listening. Instantly, she turned her gaze towards her pencil, flipped it around a bit and blushed.

"Whatcha want?" he snarled as stealthily as he could.

"I-I-I..." she stuttered before she started her sentence anew. "I just thought, you might want a little help. I'll let you look at my test. Hurry, while noone's looking!"

"Huh? Why would I... why would you want to help me?" Naruto just spat out the words that came to his mind without even really considering her proposition.

"You... w-well, I just think that if we are in the same year, we should support each other. Don't you think?" she reasoned, with her voice kept low, after she blushed even more. Her face was now red enough to serve as a warning sign. Either she was a really bad liar, or she was still withholding important information about her true intentions. Regardless of that, since time was running short and shorter, Naruto quickly came to the decision that – at his current state – he had little reason to distrust a person, as shy and innocent-looking as her and even less to lose.

He nodded at her and she lifted her arm, to reveal the first few questions on her sheet. Naruto, still used to his old ways of writing mischievous messages on small papers, while Iruka didn't look at him and pass them around, quickly copied the first two solutions from Hinata.

"You there! Get out!" a voice yelled over his head, just as he finished the second-to-last sentence.

Naruto's heart made a jump and he shrank to a small bag of misery on his chair.

_Why me? Was I so obvious?_

He heard the rattling of a chair being pushed back as the person behind him stood up.

"Wha-what!?"

"You got caught five times. That's game over. And now get your sorry little ass out of here." The member of the interrogation force looked through the room with a searching look. "And the other members of his team as well. You may leave, _now_!"

Two other persons stood up and turned around their papers. Unlike their comrade they didn't object to the examiners orders and simply walked out the room, while angrily staring at the one, who had been caught. The humiliation of being kicked out of the exam would not be the only thing that hurt this one, after he left the building.

Naruto, still completely frozen and in the middle of the sentence, he had just copied, was again completely paralyzed. He would have to get some more answers from Hinata, to be safe, but after the first one had been caught five times, the examiners started to call out one after another.

"Number eighty-two, you fail! Eighty-one and eighty-three as well!"

"Number seven!"

Each of these calls was starting a new wave of panic to shake Naruto's body. He wasn't even able to hold his pen. His writing instrument left his hand and fell to the ground.

_I'll be the next one for sure!_

"It's alright, Naruto. Nobody is looking this way." her gentle, yet reassuring tone liberated Naruto just enough from his apathy to let him pick up his pen again. "If you copy but a few more, you definitely won't fail."

_Yeah, right. I want to become Hokage, but I am not even brave enough to cheat at a test that practically _begs_ for cheating? Just how miserably of a ninja am I? Even Hinata's got more courage than I do._

He took a deep breath and calmed his senses. If the others could make, so could he. As Hinata revealed the next part of her test, he revelled in his new-found confidence. He would make it through this test and become a Chuunin! And after that, Hokage!


	10. Chapter 3-6

After double-checking the clock, Ibiki stepped forward again and raise his voice.

"Fourty-five minutes are over. I will now give you the tenth question." He stopped for a moment, to turn on his heels and star walking back and forth in front of them. "However, there is a special rule to it. Two rules, to be exact." Again, he let his words unfold to their full effect and continue. "First: You can choose, whether you take it, or not. If you choose not to take it, your fail automatically and have to try at the next exam. Of course your teammates will have to try again as well." A slight murmuring erupted which was this time not silenced by Ibiki, who smiled a sadistic smile of superiority. "The second rule!" he spoke louder, to disrupt the mumbling. "If you do take it, and fail, you can never take the exam again."

The moment, in which Ibiki finished his sentence, some already stood up and protested.

"What kind of rule is this!?"

"What the fuck? As if we could make such a choice."

"Whose decision was this?"

And then after Ibiki simply shrugged off the complaints and angry shouts that originated from the brewing insecurity, the first hands were raising.

"I... I give up."

"Me too."

Arm after arm ascended, signalled forfeit and the examiners mercilessly announced the numbers of those, who failed. After only one minute, half of the original aspirants for the privilege of becoming a Chuunin were already gone. Either expelled for repeated cheating, or surrendering in the face of the pressure, Ibiki used against them. Only those, who were confident, they could take the final question, remained and even they were wavering. Nothing was known about the contents of the last problem and in their heads, the ignorance of any details, caused even the ones who had no problem, solving the other questions, to doubt themselves.

Sakura shook her head. She would be fine and so would Sasuke. He knew, who people were, which held onto the answers. Still, both of them weren't sure about Naruto. They didn't know, why he hadn't given up yet, but he was probably desperately clinging onto the frail hope of the tenth problem. And if he would fail this one, he would cause all three of them to fail. Afterall, it would probably be the better choice for them, to give up and take the exam another time.

Sakura was just about to raise her arm as well, when Naruto suddenly, slammed his hand on the table.

"Hell, no! I will take this question no matter what!" Although there was a slight trembling in his voice, his spirit was still there and affected everyone around him. The confidence, Naruto displayed, was almost inspiringly courageous and instantly wiped out all the doubts and scruple of the others. People, that were about to raise their arms as well, refrained from doing so and looked at their teammates instead.

Ibiki smiled a bleak smile and nodded for a little while. Noone wanted to give up anymore or feared the tenth question. Every single one of the remaining Genin posessed the required determination to take risks and carry out dangerous missions. The qualities of a Chuunin.

"Well then. Everyone, who is still here, passes!" he announced. "I wish you all good luck."

"Whaaaat!?" several people couldn't believe it. "There is no tenth question?"

"No, there wasn't" Ibiki confirmed. "It was only to dest your determination and confidence in your abilities. You could only pass if you wanted to take the risk and you did. There is no need for a tenth question."

Kiba Inuzuka raised from his chair and pointed in Ibiki's direction. "And the other problems? They were just to annoy us?"

"No." Ibiki answered honestly. "We used them to test your methods of spying and information gathering. In other words: cheating. Those, who are no good at that can't become Chuunin yet. The questions had to be solved by cheating for the most part and we made sure, you could do so, by sneaking in two Chuunin with the correct answers."

Two Konoha-nin stood up and bowed with a grin to complement their succesful trick.

"I hope you understand the true purpose of the exam a bit better and go well prepared..."

Ibiki's words were cut off by the sound of crashing glass and a giant piece of cloth that flew threw the destroyed window.

Not inferior to the interrogation force's appearance in the slightest, a woman with purple hair, and a brown coat over her chain vest followed the banner had been pinned at the ceiling in front of blackboard and covered Ibiki completely.

"Rejoice, for the second examiner Anko Mitarashi has arrived!"


	11. Chapter 3-7

Darkness laid like a shroud over the hideout. The gloom left the three people who treaded in the long and empty corridor bereft of their ability to concentrate. Then, a light appeared at the end of the hallway. It was almost as if one were sneak a peak through the heavy veil of depressive thought that clouded the mind of the boy who walked between the two adults. One of them had sharp, intimidating features, resembling those of a shark. The other one had long, dark blue hair, wich covered his face as he went on, at a pace, that would have been fitting for a burial ceremony. Both of them wore dark cloaks embroidered with red clouds. The boy in their middle however, was wearing a chain vest and an untidily closed Yukata over it. One of his eyes was covered by a medical eyepatch and in his hand, with a firm grip he held what used to be the mask of a Kirigakure hunter-nin mask.

Haku knew one of his companions of old. It was the famous Kisame, bearer of Samehada and famous swordsman as well as a highly dangerous missing-nin. The other he suspected to be Itachi Uchiha and by what he knew of him, he was probably the most powerful person he had encountered as of yet. More powerful than him, his master or the person, who killed him: Kakashi of the Sharingan.

Taking revenge was out of the question for him at his current state. He hadn't been able to correctly treat his eyem, which had been damaged by the younger brother of the person, who accompanied him to the Akatsuki hideout in the Country of the Grass.

The light at the end of the tunnel grew more and more intense and completely lifted the heahy atmosphere that rendered everyone of them silent. The small room was bright, contrary to Haku's expectations. A blank room with walls of white Stone. A single banner of a black phoenix on red ground hung from a wall at the very back of the rectangular room but besides that, there was only a block of stone in the middle of the room, which was big enough to serve as a table if need be and seemed to grow out of thr ground as if the whole cave had been carved out from the inside. The bright light, as Haku realized, after they entered, emitted from a lamp above the entrance. A cold and unhomely light of pure white radiance, which started to irritate the eyes if one were to look at it for too long.

"Sit down... Please" Kisames voice commanded him with a tone that probably would have been created by rubbing sanpaper over a smooth surface.

Haku obeyed the order as fast as he can. They were probably going to test him somehow. The block was so comfortable right now. His heart was slightly pounding, his nervousity showing in his looks towards the ceiling and Kisame. Then, Itachi stepped forward with an outstretched arm. Haku instinctively tried to leap backwards, but kept his body under control. There was no point in running away now. Slowly, he lowered his head and accepted Itachi's hand on his forehead. The famous missing-nin had not spoken until now, but when he did, his voice utered a simple yet unimaginably powerful command.

"Wake up!"

The room fell down into his parts, reality crumbled away in front of Haku's eyes, as the Genjutsu, that had been placed on him, disappeared. Shades of persons became visible. Seven more, nearly undistinguishable from the dark walls of the cave. Their silhouettes flickered and started to fade, unable to concentrate into a fixed shape.

"A kid? Do we look like we are some sort of orphanage? Itachi, what is the meaning of this?" The first silhouette with a ponytail and one part of his hair in front of his eyes sneered.

"Please explain yourself." The third silhouette demanded, a flickering version of someone with spiky hair and several piercings in his ears and his nose. The other ones simply stood there, waiting for Itachi to speak.

"He asked Kisame to become his apprentice. He was formerly the subordinates of Zabuza, from the hidden mist and possesses a Kekkei Genkai that combines wind- and water-based chakra."

"Yeah, right..." the one with the long hair was quick to mock again. "Wasn't this guy killed by this Konoha squad? Are you seriously asking permission to take the subordinate of such a weakling as an apprentice?"

"I am not asking anything." Itachi replied in an intimidatingly calm way.

"That's..." Haku used all his confidence to utter a few words a those strange characters. "I am asking you to let Kisame-sensei train me for a while."

"That is out of the question." The constantly altering shape in the middle spoke again. "I will not accept that you delay results by taking your time to train this kid. Deidara's objection is correct."

Kisame, who had been simply following the conversation jumped in and brought himself between the third silhouette and Haku. "I know, that you expect us to work quick and efficiently, but if I train him, he might become stronger than most of us. A Kekkei Genkai of his sort is nearly limitless in its potential and capturing the tailed beasts would be an easy prey with it. Furthermore, his loyalty is absolute. Itachi already tested him and it seems that he had only been living for Zabuza's sake so far."

The third shade turned her gaze towards Itachi.

"What do you think of it. Could you work with another partner as long Kisame is busy?"

Itachi nodded and the bleary appearance of the groups leader changed to a state of disappearing.

"Then do what you like. I will give you new orders soon."

"Pah..." Deidaras shape ceased its flickering and disappered alongs the other members of Akatsuki.

Haku stared at the mask in his hands, back at Kisame and then at the mask.

"Thank you..." he muttered. "I will give my best not to disappoint you."

"Of course. You are dead, if you fail. But you know that already, do you? It is like Deidara said: We are neither an orphanage nor a charitable organization of some sort. I am only doing this, because I know that you are willing to serve me and I want your skills."

"I... know, yes." Haku still didn't dare to look Kisame in the eye and always turned his gaze back at the mask.

"Good. Let's find someone, who can treat that eye of yours, first. And after that, I have just the right place for you to start training."


End file.
